The Roseville Cinema and the adjoining retail, office and residential building at 110-116 Pacific Highway have been sold for $8.23 million, agents confirmed.
Buyers are brothers Peter and Stephen Sourris, the operators behind Queensland-based Five Star Cinemas, who also own the independent Tower Cinemas in Newcastle.
A court-appointed trustee, Michael Brereton of William Buck Australia, managed the sale following a Supreme Court ruling in mid-June that ordered the cinema and the neighbouring site to be sold to resolve a shareholder dispute among three owners.
The package covers a combined landholding of 1077 square metres and included the cinema as well as an adjacent mixed-use building. The mixed-use component offers tenancy income and potential repositioning or redevelopment options.
Selling agents on the campaign were Mark Litwin and Joshua Baruch from Knight Frank, together with James Sutton of McGrath Lindfield. The agents said the auction attracted strong interest from buyers in New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland.
According to the agents, prospective purchasers considered several courses for the asset: keeping the cinema in place, repositioning the entertainment offering or redeveloping the combined properties. The agents added that the Sourris brothers intend to keep the historic venue open as an independent picture theatre.
The Roseville last changed ownership in 1974 when the Van Pinxteren family acquired it. It is regarded as one of Sydney’s oldest continuously operating independent cinemas, a fact that helps explain local interest in the outcome of the sale.
The sale resolves a period of legal uncertainty for the site after the shareholder dispute prompted the Supreme Court-ordered disposal. With the transaction completed, the Buyers now control both the cinema operation and the adjoining mixed-use asset.
The deal adds another small, culturally significant venue to the Sourris brothers’ portfolio and leaves them with multiple options for generating returns from the combined property, whether through continued operation of the cinema or future redevelopment opportunities.
