JULY 22, 2015 \ MARIBYRNONG.STARWEEKLY.COM.AU
NEWS + SPORT + THE WEST’S BEST PROPERTY GUIDE
By Goya Dmytryshchak The building housing Williamstown’s Titanic Theatre Restaurant is for sale, but the restaurant will continue to operate until at least 2018. The restaurant’s lease expires in that year, with a further option available until 2021. David Varney, who runs the restaurant, says it will continue to run even if the building’s ownership changes. “I’m here for another six years at least, so there’ll be no disaster with regard to this I can assure you,” he said. “We’re stronger and better and harder-working than we’ve ever been. “I have a lease, so if someone wishes to buy the building they take me with them. “I’m going to have a few phone calls now that people are saying the building is up for sale and that’s the end of the Titanic. “I’ve got a massive commitment here for at least the next three years, plus the opportunity to go further than that. “We’re under pressure from what’s happened around us with the destruction of the wool stores … I’ve had to work harder at letting people know we’re still sailing. We’ll continue to do what we do so well for a further period of three years plus possibly another three on top of that.” Property owner Andrew Singer
established the theme restaurant at 1 Nelson Place, 25 years ago. In 2009, Mr Singer told Star Weekly that residential rezoning of the adjoining Port Phillip Woollen Mill site could sink his business. The Titanic occupies a corner of the mill site, which covers two large blocks. Construction is under way on the mill site for the $350 million Waterline Place development, comprising up to 850 dwellings and with a height of up to 10 storeys. The development is scheduled to be completed by 2018, the same time the Titanic’s lease expires. Weda Partners director Peter Weda is seeking expressions of interest for the freehold to the 460-square-metre property occupied by the Titanic. “We’re trying to get feedback from the investor, the developer-type communities, to say here is this property that’s the last remaining in that Port Phillip Woollen Mill site,” he said. “What are you prepared to pay? We’ve had massive amounts of inquiry.” Save Williamstown spokesman Godfrey Moase said tourists were attracted to the suburb because of its unique architecture and heritage. “It would be an avoidable crime if we lost another old Williamstown pub,” he said. “And given that that is on the corner it cannot safely be residential – that is the closest point to the [Mobil] major hazard facility.”
INFOCUS FOCUS T U R N T O PA G E 1 7
(Damjan Janevski)
Titanic’s defiant ‘sail on’
A career afloat At just 15, West Footscray artist and surfboard shaper Michel Le Tellier knew exactly where his life must go. Three years on, he’s riding a swell of acclaim thanks to his one-of-a-kind surfboard artworks. Le Tellier’s merging of his love of surfing and art will soon feature in a solo exhibition at West Footscray’s Post Industrial Design. ■ Full story page 11
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