Panjo - The the kids club that couldn’t
Off the hume highway, on the corner of a bustling main road through the industrial area of Minto, sits an inconspicuous building, blended in with its surroundings, you wouldn’t think anything of it.
Not my photo - but a pretty cool aerial shot of the building
General swimming/lap pool
It’s not until you take a closer look, that you realise its not a share office in need of some TLC, or a logistics depot thats had its run with the local graffiti gang - no in fact it is the once dream of Anthony Panzarino, a budding developer with dreams of creating, in his own words, a “Destination centre 4 children”
Construction on the 8 storey building started in 2007 with plans of opening an ice skating rink, swimming pool, child care centre, medical centre, theatre, spa, putt putt golf and pizza, a 50s style diner and much more.
The “learn to swim” pool, now filled with drink cups from the neighboring ice skating kiosk.
However works came to a grinding halt shortly after, when the GFC hit and the bank funding the project (St. George Bank) cut its ties, and its money. The building sat lifeless until 2009, when renewed interest - and funding came from said bank, and construction recommenced.
Building entry foyer - to the right is entry to the skating rink, behind, the spa.
But again, with a slew of set backs and funding issues, the developers went into receivership in 2011, unable to pay back the $45 million they had borrowed to develop Panjo. The property was put onto the market in order to recoup costs, and sold for a measly $7.7 million in 2013.
Inside the glass elevator carriage
With the city mayor eager to see something done with the 26,869sq m eyesore, he approved a building permit in 2014 to see new developers, Consortium Grange Road Properties, breather new life into the complex, with 139 serviced apartments, a child care centre, and office space for hire.
Looking up the four carriage glass elevator unit - all four carriages are waiting for you on the top floor!
In a strange turn of invents, the permit sat unclaimed, with no work started or finished on the site, and the property once again placed on the market in 2017.
There has been no word as to what will happen to the building, now affectionately known as “Panjo”, but as time passes, the derelict building has become haven to vandals, graffiti artists, metal scrappers and squatters.
Glass elevator shaft from the 6th floor.. Sorry this is my last elevator photo, they were just so cool!
The two basement levels are your standard run of the mill car park. The lower level is a little flooded, but nothing too hectic. The first floor to the sixth are also quite repetitive - its uncertain if these levels have been gutted by a demolition crew, or scrappers, but each of these levels have piles of destroyed building elements sorted by material.
The state of the first to sixth levels - its hard to tell what has been torn down, and what was never finished!
But really, its the ground level that makes this whole explore worth it.
It’s like walking through a real life time capsule. Ice skating boots for the ice skating rink were still in boxes, hair colour swatches for the spa laid over the floor, care instruction stickers not yet peeled from the bathroom equipment. Even the launch day gift bags will still in their original delivery boxes.
Large props sit in the now abandoned ice skating rink - unfortunately the ice melted by the time I got there!
What sucks the most, is that because there was no natural light to the space, everything was pitch black - making it really hard to take photos and really accentuate on these amazing features - also, my camera died half way through the explore, bummer!
Inside the “theatre”. I’m still unsure if this was meant to be a movie theatre or a stage theatre as there was going to be a “Performing Arts” centre at one point in the initial design concept.
I was also quite amazed with how intact the building still was. With the amount of glass used to feature the entry, as well as the apparent fire that had broken out on the 5th floor, the building was surprisingly weather tight. As my architecture friends would say, the structure has “good bones” making it perfect for redevelopment.
View out of the large glass pillar at the front of the building, with surprisingly all the glass still intact!
In saying that though, while the idea surrounding the property’s initial existance was pretty darn cool, and really appealed to my inner 12 year old child, it was fairly easy to see how a business like this probably wouldnt work for the area.
The kiosk to the putt putt golf area
Given the heavy industrial area surrounding the property, I could not see many of its feautures being heavily utilized. Sure, the child care centre aspect would have been a great convenience for the working families with jobs in the area, but the rest of the feautres such as pools, ice skating, putt putt, theatre, spa and diner, would probably only see “seasonal” attraction - working families stuck with kids for the school holidays could use it as a dumping ground for their offspring, but beyond that, who else would really go out of their way for it?
All in all, This explore was certainly one of my most favorite explores. I will certainly be trying to gain access again with a little more camera battery next time!
Bonus video! What everything looked like during the building process. A few of the filmed features match up to some of my photos!
