Gungahlin's growing population could have their own cinema as soon as 2018.
Hoyts Australia has been announced as the preferred operator for a long awaited cinema in Canberra's Gungahlin region.
A development application for the site on the corner of Hibberson and Hinder Streets will be lodged in mid 2016, with construction to commence in early 2017, Canberra-based developers Krnc Group told Gungahlin residents on Wednesday night.
The construction of the cinema precinct is slated to take between 18 and 21 months and will include eight screens, food and high-end retail as well as commercial tenancies.
The precinct will be up to four levels high, with retail on the ground floor, restaurants, retail and the cinemas on the second floor and commercial tenancies on the third and fourth levels. Car parking will be in the basement level.
The artist's impression includes an open air marketplace in the centre of the building.
Member for Molonglo Meegan Fitzharris said the cinema complex will be right on the light rail, enabling more people to access it.
"I was proud to lead calls for a cinema to be built in Gungahlin in 2012, and to see real progress being made is great news for our community, which is growing fast," she said.
Gungahlin Community Council president Peter Elford said the developer's planned appeared to encompass much of the feedback from the council's 2014 survey.
"The cinema project has had a lot of interest in Gungahlin. One of the things that was highlighted in the Gungahlin Community Council's Have Your Say survey in 2014 was a really strong demand for more entertainment in Gungahlin, in the town centre in particular. It's one of the more common questions we field, 'when is the cinema complex going to open'. After so many years it's really positive to see the project going forward," Mr Elford said.
"Surrounding it are all the sorts of things we're also missing at the moment. The concept designs they showed were really quite exciting, this industrial chic look as a building with a focus on high-end retail and commercial space. It wasn't just a cinema, it was a while set of services wrapped around the cinema. I have to say it was really exciting."
Krnc Group have been contacted for comment.
