Fremantle Press buys landmark first home with Fini, state support
The state government will also on Tuesday announce $500,000 funding for the two organisations to secure their much-needed permanent home near the intersection of Parry, Quarry and Adelaide streets.
The purchase will also preserve and activate the heritage building near Clancy's, DADAA and the Elders Wool Stores redevelopment in the soon-to-be reinvigorated East End of the port city.
Known arts supporters Adrian and Michela Fini are making the ambitious plan possible with a low-interest loan to the organisations. Adrian Fini is also behind the Wool Stores project, which is touted as WA's biggest heritage redevelopment since the State Buildings were completed in Perth more than a decade ago and is likely to inject significant residential population and commercial activity into the area.
Press chief executive Alex Allan said the Press had been looking for a permanent home for years, given their aged and cramped current space, but nothing had been quite right for their requirements, including 'the pure number of books that we take with us.'
They had noted the substation vacant, for lease and finally for sale, 'peered through the windows' at the beautiful example of interwar industrial architecture, but dismissed the possibility, given the enormity of the building with the huge rear machine hall at the rear.
Another year of searching later, Allan had a chance conversation with CircusWA artistic director Jo Smith, then Sarah Booth of Fremantle social enterprise Spacemarket, which is dedicated to realising value in under-utilised spaces, facilitated further talks between them and finally a joint tour.
'We thought, This is amazing. There's a perfect spot for Fremantle Press, and at the back a perfect spot for CircusWA. It felt like it was meant to be, especially because, ironically, the substation sits absolutely equidistant between our two existing offices,' Allan said.
'The magic was there. And the next challenge was, how on earth would two arts organisations like us manage to pull this off?'
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