Citing Victoria’s events and tourism market as “a priority”, Cedar Mill Group is planning to open a purpose-built outdoor amphitheatre, which they refer to as a performance shell, on the property an hour from Melbourne’s city centre in 2024.
The permanent venue is a acoustical, high-tech sound shell structure designed to improve the sound and clarity of performances, for a wide range of performing arts, festivals, major concerts, movie screenings and community events.
The construction phase of the Cedar Mill project is estimated to create 500 jobs. They have previously announced similar venues at Lake Macquarie, where construction of a 30,000 capacity venue is underway, and Pokolbin, both in New South Wales.
The Yarra Valley venue will include a 300-bed hotel, conference and business event facilities, three restaurants and 20 boutique villa units within a village precinct designed to host live concerts and events featuring Australian and international touring acts.
“The vision for the site includes the delivery of a venue that is capable of hosting special events and corporate conferences and attracting tourists seeking high-end visitor experiences,” according to the Cedar Mill website.
“This includes local growers and operators providing boutique goods and dining experiences inspired by the local agricultural heritage and, of course, winemaking, distilling and brewing.
The group’s managing director, Paul Lambess says the Yarra Valley land purchase is the beginning of a major rollout of multiple sites in Victoria.
Cedar Mill is part of Winarch Capital and has delivered some of the most iconic events in Australia, including the Sydney Harbour Bridge 90th Anniversary. It provides event management, risk management, venue operations, security and video production.
Recently Cedar Mill provided site management services to Frontier Touring Company which staged the record-breaking Ed Sheeran concert at Melbourne’s MCG.
In April the business announced the appointment of four senior staff to its venues team as well as a new chief operating officer, Melissa Truscott.
