7 April

Astor Cinema site now in safe hands

St Kilda’s St Michael’s Grammar School has officially taken possession of the Astor Cinema site.

The formal settlement was signed today after St Michael’s became the successful bidder for the St Kilda Art Deco icon when it went to auction on 6 December last year.

“We’re proud to be the new custodians of the Astor site,” said Head of the School, Simon Gipson. “It’s a magnificent building that holds so many memories for Melburnians. We’re looking forward to exploring ways in which it can serve the needs of St Michael’s as well as the wider community.”

In the short term, the School will not occupy the Astor building and major renovations won’t occur in the near future; however, some urgent maintenance issues will be attended to soon after the handover.

Existing Astor tenants, such as the Astor Theatre’s George Florence, are expected to remain at least until the expiry of their lease agreements and, subject to negotiation with St Michael’s, may well continue to operate out of the building.

“Since the sale, a lot of people have been asking if we’re going to stop showing films,” says George Florence. “For now it’s definitely business as usual. We may mutually decide to renegotiate the lease before it ends in order that St Michael’s can use the theatre during the daytime for example. How long the Astor continues to screen films will be partly affected by how well the public support the cinema from this point on.”

“In the long term, St Michael’s has a vision to create a performing arts space within the Astor,” says Simon Gipson. “Although we’re also mindful of our responsibility to protect and restore its precious architectural features – they’re too valuable to lose. Having a substantial venue in which to house our extensive performing arts program will obviously be of enormous benefit to our students but we also see the potential for the Astor to become a dynamic artistic hub for the local community. We’re currently considering options to realise this vision.”

For George Florence, who has been showing movies at the Astor since 1982, today marks the beginning of a new era for his much loved cinema.

“I got into this business because I wanted to show great films and because I wanted to protect a great old building and what it represents: an icon of cinema history and culture,” said Florence. “I’m hoping that the Astor’s future relationship with St Michael’s will be symbiotic … maybe St Michael’s events could even appear on our calendar.”

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