Upgrade for red stairs

Despite plans to demolish them in the future, the City of Melbourne will invest up to $10,000 to refurbish Southbank’s infamous Red Stairs at Queensbridge Square.

The news comes after Crown Resorts all but confirmed in its October annual report that its plans to build Australia’s tallest tower at 1 Queensbridge St, which includes $100 million in “public benefits” for Southbank, remains subject to financing.

The $1 billion development was granted planning exemption in 2017 as a “state significant” project largely on the basis that it funds the redevelopment of Queensbridge Square, Sandridge Bridge and Southbank Promenade.

With Crown’s permit set to expire in March 2019, Southbank Residents’ Association (SRA) president Tony Penna asked Lord Mayor Sally Capp at November’s Yarra River Business Association (YRBA) event whether council had a contingency plan in place.

“We haven’t yet had any formal notification from Crown although we do know that their permit expires in March next year so we are preparing ourselves for some of those discussions at the moment,” Cr Capp said.

“We haven’t worked out the $100 million contingency yet but we’ve certainly made a commitment to do some works ourselves.”

Despite future plans to demolish the red stairs as part of the transformation of Southbank Boulevard, the Lord Mayor said that council had committed to refurbishing them while it awaited more news from Crown and project partners Schiavello.

“We’re going to undertake our own program of works to at least refurbish those [the red stairs] in the short term so at least what is looking a bit tired at the moment at least looks a bit smarter while we wait to understand what’s going to happen,” she said.

A spokesperson for the City of Melbourne later told Southbank Local News: “The City of Melbourne will complete minor repairs and painting on the postmodern Red Stair amphitheatre at Queensbridge Square, Southbank.”

“The purpose of the maintenance is to reinvigorate the Red Stair amphitheatre while the area undergoes further changes. The City of Melbourne is investing up to $10,000 in the maintenance of the Red Stair amphitheatre.”

The City of Melbourne had flagged upgrades to the Southbank precinct surrounding Freshwater Place for years prior to Crown’s commitment and the ongoing delays have left both council and local residents frustrated.

Council’s chair of planning Cr Nicholas Reece told Southbank Local News in October that there was only so long the council could tolerate Crown and Schiavello’s delay in upgrading Queensbridge Square.

At its annual general meeting (AGM) on November 1, Crown Resorts executive chairman John Alexander said: “We have active conversations going on, I can’t put a timeframe on how and when that will happen and I’m not going to speculate on the status of the permit.”