Hillsong Church buys Melbourne's historic Festival Hall

Evangelical church Hillsong has bought historic Melbourne concert venue the Festival Hall, which has hosted artists ranging from the Beatles to Ed Sheeran.

The heritage listed west Melbourne concert hall, was put up for sale almost three years ago with owner Stadiums Limited saying at the time that it couldn't compete with the city’s newer venues.

Announcing the purchase yesterday in a YouTube video, Hillsong state pastor Tim Douglass said the West Melbourne building had been bought after a years-long search for a home in the city.

Tim Douglass advised “this journey of purchasing this incredible facility started about 18 months ago.

"We just happened to hear about that it was for sale and started inquiring, thinking that it was a long shot. I mean, we've been looking for seven or so years and come up empty-handed."

Tim Douglass said the proposal appeared to fall through around Christmas last year, but "through a roller coaster of events", the church managed to buy the building this year.

He added "the cool thing about purchasing Festival Hall is it's going to continue to be Festival Hall.

"It has served the people of this city in different events over the years and it’s going to continue to do that.

"We just get to be the church that purchases it and continues to serve, but also gets to see it be the house of God on Sundays."

Performers that have graced the venue's stage include Frank Sinatra, Liberace, Johnny Cash, the Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Justin Timberlake, the Foo Fighters and Lorde.

It has also hosted wrestling and boxing bouts featuring the likes of Lionel Rose and Anthony Mundine, and an indoor tennis exhibition with John McEnroe.

Hillsong founder Brian Houston said the building needed a lot of work, and the church was hoping to renovate it, commenting “but we're going to continue running it as a community venue," he said.

When it initially put the building up for sale in 2018, Stadiums Limited had applied for a permit to demolish it and replace it with two 16-storey apartment towers. However, the redevelopment proposal was refused when the building was heritage-listed.

Images: The Festival Hall (top) an artist's impression of how the venue could look when in use by Hillsong (below: YouTube/Hillsong Church).