Luna Park Melbourne Redevelopment.

[Gazza]

An article appeared in the Age in Melbourne a couple of days ago, which points to the sorts of ideas that are being thrown around for when they eventually do something with Luna Park in Melbourne: http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/lun...7135656431.html

Luna Park aims for new fun, and perhaps an old giggle too Royce Millar and Stephen Moynihan December 14, 2007 LUNA Park is set for a major upgrade aimed at turning the fading fun palace into a mix of old world and modern. Under the latest proposal for a revamp, it would become a 24-hour entertainment precinct, with restaurants, revived rides and new attractions. While plans are not yet final, the plan could include roofing part of the park to protect it from weather and allow development overhead. Andrew Fox, the head of the Linfox Property Group that owns Luna Park, last night confirmed a range of proposals were being considered, including a "roof structure" upon which restaurants and cafes could be built. He said talks were under way with architects about ideas, including the return of old favourites such as the Giggle Palace. Luna Park executive director Mary Stuart said a new walk-through "scare attraction" featuring live performers was also being considered. Mr Fox said a roof at Luna Park would be "outstanding" because it would allow commercial use of air space. He said Luna Park needed more commercial activity to justify capital investment, which may amount to tens of millions of dollars. "But there's no set plan," he said. "We're exploring all avenues." Architect Nonda Katsalidis said his company, Fender Katsalidis, was having talks with Linfox, including the possibility of "enclosing" Luna Park. "They (Linfox) want to enclose the bulk of it, make it weather-proof, renew a lot of the rides, put back the Giggle Palace and other stuff that used to be there before," he said. The exterior of Luna Park would be kept as is. It is not clear how Port Phillip Council and heritage authorities will respond to the proposal. News of a possible upgrade came as Luna Park yesterday celebrated its 95th anniversary. To mark the event, artist Mark Ogge has completed the re-working of an original Luna Park painting, which is to be displayed on the Scenic Railway platform. Ms Stuart said she hoped renovation of the Scenic Railway would be completed by January.

Well my thoughts on it all:

it would become a 24-hour entertainment precinct, with restaurants

This sort of mentality annoys me. It seems not one major development can go by without cafes, bars and restaurants being tacked on to it. Plus right next door is that Triangle site redevelopment. At the end of the day it is a place for kids, these hold limited interest to them.

He said talks were under way with architects about ideas, including the return of old favourites such as the Giggle Palace.

Lets hope this also includes stuff like the big dipper and river caves...not just the easy way out with what is just a funhouse. I hope that a return of the Giggle Palace isn't just one of those soft play structures.

He said Luna Park needed more commercial activity to justify capital investment, which may amount to tens of millions of dollars. "But there's no set plan," he said. "We're exploring all avenues."

This is the sort of mentality that drives parks into the ground and spoils any 'magic' they have. While plans are not yet final, the plan could include roofing part of the park to protect it from weather and allow development overhead.

Andrew Fox, the head of the Linfox Property Group that owns Luna Park, last night confirmed a range of proposals were being considered, including a "roof structure" upon which restaurants and cafes could be built

. To me this sounds plain odd. Im getting this mental image of a sort of 5 story building, with the bottom four floors gutted out as a big hollow space, with the top floor being those cafes. Or maybe it will look like one of those houses on stilts. It sort of concerns me that they want to diversify, the park is tiny as it is so that space should really be left just for rides, and there is the whole of Melbourne if you want to build restaurants and cafes or whatever, can't they just leave this one little parcel just for amusement purposes? If they made an effort to make the rides and attractions good enough it could be just as successful, but at the present time, even with the last renovation it had, it still remains as being tacky flat rides. Edited December 16, 2007 by Gazza

[GoGoBoy]

Thanks for the article Gazza I've been waiting for some news on this. Well I think this is a terribly disappointing albeit predictable outcome. The words 24 hours, entertainment precinct, cafes, restaurants, commercial etc. all fill me with horror. I do not believe they need these things to justify capital investment. It has been proven that fun/theme parks can be extremely successful and profitable in Australia as stand alone businesses. Linfox just wants minimal investment with easy returns with little thought for the benefit of the people of Melbourne and the area in general. So much for all their original talk of restoring the original fun park to its former glory. That was obviously just said when they were hoping to score the neighbouring development sites

Edited December 16, 2007 by GoGoBoy

[Morphix]

why cant they just give melbourne what it wants, a 100million dollar themepark

[dreamworld_rulz]

That's the a 100million dollar question.

[Mad Hatter]

really reckon 100 mill would go far these days for a totally new development? who has the cash in aus to put up that sort of moolah? i could think of macquire leisure, but 100 mill is a fair bit to sink into a new, untested venture.

[colliric]

Nope. Melbourne has been tantelising film companies for years for a Movie theme park... Disney, Paramount and Universal have expressed interest for many many years. Heck Paramount had fully planned for their park at the Docklands in '99. It was going to have the Jurassic Park River Ride, a Star Trek themed Rollercoaster(The Borg), the famous Indiana Jones ride(localised version) and a James Bond themed Attraction. Dang Victorians had to vote in Steve Bracks and they suddenly got cold fingers and pulled out!