Century Venues (owner of the Enmore, Metro and Factory theatres) has taken an option on the Regent site on Keira Street and appraising whether it would be viable as a new venue in their group.

However the council owned Town Hall will undergo works over the next four years to also return it to a premier live music venue including new sound and lighting.

“Merrigong is focused on building a thriving performing arts culture in Wollongong and welcomes more opportunities and facilities for all types of artists in our city,” Merrigong director Simon Hinton told the Mercury. 

“A lot goes in to making a venue work for artists and audiences, as well as being viable for commercial event.”

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Currently Town Hall has limited lighting and sound specifications, with recent big name act Guy Sebastian needing to bring in his own sound engineers and equipment.

But Mr Hinton said future upgrades were a major step towards making the venue meet industry standards.

“We are adding some rigging points to the ceiling to allow more PA to be hung, rather than placed on winch up stands as it was for Guy Sebastian’s concert,” he said.

“This involves some strengthening of the ceiling truss to allow the additional weight to be supported. This work is planned to be done before the end of the year so that the PA can be installed using those rigging points.”

In their draft infrastructure delivery program, Wollongong City Council will update the main sound system and other communications audio, truss and rigging to hang stage lights from the ceiling, plus lighting and sound equipment. The plan for $2,026,000 of upgrades will go to council for approval on June 25.

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This year has already seen a power upgrade to the hall, seating capacity increased as well as minor adjustments to acoustics thanks to Guy Sebastian’s team.

The star originally was set to play two dates at Anita’s Theatre though scheduling issues saw him take up the opportunity to use the Town Hall.

“[They] approached us with the proposal to have my show launch the re-purposed venue,” Mr Sebastian told the Mercury.

“They put in sound treatment after my sound guy went in and gave them some advice. Merrigong did a great job to ensure the room was treated acoustically for me to achieve this.”

The part-time Gerroa resident said he loved that more musicians were going to get a chance to perform in Wollongong.

If Century do take on the Regent, the company believe it has the potential to create a touring circuit between their venues in Sydney and Newcastle.