After nearly 12 years of forced closure, the Nelson Mandela Bay municipality is pushing to relocate the Red Location precinct as restoration is estimated to cost more than R53m — potentially more than its original price tag.
The old Post Office complex in Baakens Street, Central, has been earmarked as the site for the proposed new single heritage complex.
The site comprises four linked buildings, including the old magistrate’s court, police station, post office and telephone exchange.
New Brighton’s Red Location Museum will then be repurposed into a cultural business hub to address residents’ service delivery frustrations that led to its closure.
The relocation proposal was tabled at a sport, recreation, arts and culture standing committee meeting on Tuesday.
The report was noted and will head to the mayoral committee.
The precinct houses the Red Location Museum, a digital library and an art gallery.
However, since its closure in 2013, the facilities have fallen prey to vandals and vagrants.
It was built to honour anti-apartheid heroes. At its peak, 120,000 people visited the precinct a year.
In 2016, the city council adopted a new operational model for the centre referred to as the precinct without walls, so that it could deliver “limited programmes”.
A 2022 report revealed more than R52.8m was needed to restore the precinct, which includes the museum, art gallery and archive.
However, a report tabled by acting executive director Veliswa Gwintsa revealed that the building had likely deteriorated further.
“The cost of refurbishing these buildings is now nearing, if not surpassing, the cost of their initial construction,” the report says.
The closure led to the loss of staff.
When the museum closed, it had 14 permanent and six contract staff. Today, only six remain.
There is no longer a chief curator for the art gallery.
“This becomes especially problematic for specialist memory projects such as museums, archives and galleries who rely heavily on loan agreements and partnerships for exhibitions and collections with other institutions,” the report says.
To forestall any backlash over a relocation, it has been proposed that the precinct be turned into a business hub.
“Emanating from the many academic studies, media sources and numerous community sessions over the past years regarding the reopening of the museum, it has become apparent that the community’s key concern is direct benefit in the form of housing, employment, business opportunities and other basic needs.
“The study further examined alternative solutions and utilisation for the current Red Location precinct facilities and recommended that it be converted into a community cultural business hub that would cater for artists, small start-ups and/or co-operatives and offer direct community beneficiation.
“This will further stimulate growth and sustainable development of the creative and cultural industries in New Brighton and surrounding townships,” the report says further.
It says the privately-owned buildings for the new centre have been selected for their aesthetic and historical value.
“Apart from the Victorian architectural value of the complex, it has significant historical, social, cultural and struggle heritage importance and therefore huge tourism value potential,” the report says.
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