Latest on Station Street Redevelopment

The plans to redevelop Station Street are a hugely emotive issue in Southside, we represent the businesses who occupy these buildings and we are aware of the huge public desire to designate Station Street a cultural asset. See petition here.

The developers Glenbrook have recently met with us to outline their plans and to commit to continuing to involve us in the development process and below is a statement they have asked us to share.

10 March 2024

A statement from Glenbrook:

As the long leaseholder for part of Station Street (this part does not include The Crown, or the Old Rep), we wanted to provide clarity regarding our involvement with the cinema and the future of Station Street as a whole.

We understand and recognise the upset the closure of the Electric Cinema has caused and what this might mean for Station Street's future, along with the concern this has created during uncertain times for Birmingham's cultural scene.

Having listened to the discussions over recent weeks, we believe that our ambitions for the future evolution of the Electric Cinema are closely aligned to those of the community:

1. We are committed to ensuring that an independently operated cinema remains at the heart of Station Street for future generations to enjoy. We want to create a place where film of all genres, and Birmingham’s rich film heritage, can be experienced and celebrated by all.

2. We are committed to working with city-wide partners to reinvigorate Station Street as the creative, cultural avenue it has the potential to be, including facilitating public realm improvements to provide a more vibrant and safe environment.

3. We are committed to supporting local landowners, cultural bodies, and partners to help ensure The Crown and the Old Rep thrive as music and theatre venues.

Achieving these ambitions is not straightforward and the investment required to deliver them is significant. As such, initial discussions have taken place to explore the project from an investment point of view, which is the usual process for assessing development viability before making public announcements.

We believe we can achieve something very special through a genuine collaboration between developers, local authorities, the cultural and film community, and heritage groups.

This has been our intention from the outset. We will continue to reach out to various parties in the hope we can forge a meaningful, long-lasting relationship and a shared future vision shaped by an engaged and collaborative group. As a responsible developer, we pride ourselves on creating and delivering sustainable developments and places for communities.

The community has been clear they would like to be involved in those discussions and we are arranging an initial public session. We will clarify details of the session as soon as a date and venue has been confirmed.

ENDS

We understand from Glenbrook there will be an event where the public can access them and ask direct questions, we will post any events on here as soon as they are announced.