A cooling property market has proven a lifeline for the Heddon Greta Drive-in. It appears that the developers who had planned last year to subdivide the land and build a 63-lot housing project have now decided to delay their intended start date by 12 months, the theatre's owner Scott Seddon revealed this week.
The drive-in, which has entertained movie-goers for more than 50 years, was prepared to close in July to make way for the development, but Mr Seddon announced via Facebook live stream Tuesday night that the business now planned to continue for another year.
Mr Seddon added, however, that the business' survival would rely on patronage, and urged local families to show their support.
The drive-in was included as part of the Averys Village urban release area, gazetted by Cessnock City Council in 2010, and rezoned in 2013 for low-density housing.
A development application to undertake a phased subdivision of the land on Averys Lane at Heddon Greta for the housing project was lodged with the council last year in the name of Luxury Estates Pty Ltd; a determination for which remains pending according to the council's DA tracking website on Tuesday.
The DA proposes a two-phase development of the site, beginning with 37 lots before adding an additional 26 at an estimated total cost of $1.89 million.
The council had previously adopted a long-term development strategy for Heddon Greta and Cliftleigh after the combined population of the two suburbs tripled in the decade leading up to the 2021 census.
The drive-in was sold to developers in September last year, Mr Seddon announced at the time.
"(The developers), like many other people, are in the position where they're being affected by interest rates and the demand for new housing and new property has quieted a bit," Mr Seddon said during his live stream.
"To give us some certainty, they have told us that they have extended the (start) date by 12 months."
"Does that mean we're definitely here? Well, no, not exactly," he said, "We still have the same pressure and same requirements that the cinema has had for 57 years and we need to get people coming (to see shows) because it has been a little quiet."
Mr Seddon said the 12 month reprieve would afford time to make a number of maintenance repairs on the site, including repairs to the projector, but threw some doubt on earlier hopes of relocating the cinema when it eventually closes.
"The reality is, to build a single-screen drive-in theatre like this one in the mid-2020s, and spend $4 million on it, wouldn't make sense. It is possible, but it really needs to not be sitting around doing nothing in the daylight hours," he said, hinting at tentative considerations made toward combining the theatre with a larger tourism attraction.
"That's where we're looking, but no actual plans at the moment," Mr Seddon said.
The Heddon Greta Drive-in opened in December 1967, and had closed down twice before Mr Seddon purchased and re-opened it in 1996. It is one of only two drive-in theatres still operating in the state; the other is in Blacktown.
