Be in front row for drive-in deal
AN ambitious plan to build a $16 million drive-in cinema in Geelong is back, with a businessman calling for local investors to pitch in almost $500,000 to launch the project.
Newcomb businessman Ron Rapetti has renewed calls for backers for the scheme, first launched in 2015, after claiming to have found and negotiated a price on more than 16ha of land along Portarlington Rd in Moolap.
Mr Rapetti hopes investors will kick in $310,000 for a deposit on the land, and $150,000 for permits — with foreign investors expected to deliver the remaining $16 million.
“Getting land was one of the challenges, and getting investors is the next challenge,” he said.
“I need to chase up some investors to put a deposit on the land and get the works for the permits done.
“I’m pretty confident that it will come to fruition. And to raise the $16 million to build it, I know I can get that money without a problem.
“The council have already suggested that I look at foreign investors, using the 457 visa laws.
“The council basically said to me if a foreign investor wants to buy their way into the country ... they need to invest at least $5 million to $10 million to be able to get one of those visas.”
Mr Rapetti said he had raised about $400, and claimed to have spent more than $20,000 of his own money on “setting up the company, legal, architects, town planning, copyrighting and graphic design”.
A 2016 Geelong Advertiser report on the launch of a crowdfunding campaign for the cinema noted a PayPal fund-raising platform had raised $1600 for the project.
Mr Rapetti denied that money had been raised, when asked how it had been spent.
The businessman said the public was keen to see a drive-in cinema launched in Geelong, but conceded there were some who doubted it would happen.
“A lot of people are wary that, ‘will it go ahead? Will it not go ahead?’, and they’re very nervous about laying out any type of money,” Mr Rapetti said.
“Once people see that I have a permit to build it, it will then change people’s perspective and confidence in the project.”