Star shines for Theatres

Amongst the horror headlines one part of Star Casino Sydney shines, that being Foundation theatres, owned by lighting guru Stephen Found. The embattled casino complex has confirmed sale of the Star Events Centre to Mr. Found, who will convert the under utilised space into a 1,500 seat theatre, to complement the 2,000 seat Lyric Theatre he operates within the complex.

Star is struggling against a downturn created by new laws around cashless poker machines, massive fines for illegal casino trading, and the collapse of the high roller market. The new Crown complex over the bay at Barangaroo has also diluted attendance, with Star said to be low on cash and possibly headed into administration. Within the chaos, the casino trades on, and the Lyric boasts full houses as one of only two large theatres in Sydney CBD. The other is the Capitol Theatre, also owned by Foundation.

Foundation plan to refurb the Events Centre into a 1,500-seat theatre, then convert the Marquee nightclub into a 1,000-seater. An unused space will then cater to 500. The resulting complex provides 5 theatre spaces, including the recently opened Foundry Theatre, behind the Lyric and catering to 350. Foundation have already approved plans for the conversions and have paid $60 million to Star for the spaces. It would be fair to assume Foundation got a bargain.

Mr. Found is a dealmaker and a technical wizard, who created Bytecraft in partnership with Ted Fregon. They built dimmers and flying equipment for theatre and developed a handy side niche servicing poker machines for TAB in Victoria. That side sold for a windfall forty million, and then Staging Connections dished up another forty million for the lights in 2007. Found later on-sold the lighting business for Staging – clipping the ticket for a large commission – to PRG after Staging started to subside under debt. In that series of transactions, it was Found -v- suits, and the suits always lost.

In this one ‘foundation’ deal, Sydney’s theatre woes have vaporised, leaving control over almost all the larger theatres in one set of hands. Other theatres in Sydney are the STC’s Sydney Theatre, Theatre Royal, the State Theatre (which does not have a fly tower), and the Seymour Centre. Out west the Parramatta Riverside is being expanded while the 2,000 seat Colosseum – lauded as the ‘best’ new lyric theatre in Australia – sits strangely placed at distant Rooty Hill, 42km’s distant.

SYDNEY’S NEW THEATRE LINEUP

• Foundry 350
• New (Star, empty space now) 350
• Seymour 780
• Sydney Theatre 900
• New (Star, marquee) 1,000
• Theatre Royal 1,200
• Dame Joan Sutherland SOH 1,500
• New (Star, Events Centre space)
• Capitol 2,000
• State (no fly tower) 2,000
• Lyric 2,000
• Parramatta Riverside (2027) 1500, 700, 350
• Kinds Cross Minerva (?)
• Coliseum Rooty Hill 2,000