Business wants it. Artists want it. The state government's infrastructure agency wants it.
Yet the NSW government is yet to commit to transforming the Old King's School site in Parramatta into a cultural precinct.
The site on the banks of the Parramatta River, between O'Connell and Marsden streets, contains several heritage-listed buildings, some of which have been unoccupied for years.
The site was earmarked for arts and culture in the State Infrastructure Strategy update last November: "Infrastructure NSW recommends that a Parramatta cultural precinct be developed as part of the Parramatta North Urban Renewal project based around the Riverside Theatre Complex, the old David Jones site, Parramatta Stadium and the old King's School site."
The Western Sydney director of the Sydney Business Chamber, David Borger, said the site had limited scope for commercial redevelopment due to heritage and height restrictions.
"I hope the Old King's School site becomes the proposed Parramatta cultural precinct," he said. "These wonderful old historical buildings need to be given a new life ... as a centre for the creative arts in western Sydney."
Western Sydney Arts & Cultural Lobby spokesman David Capra said the site would be ideal for many arts organisations in western Sydney that experience anxiety from not having a permanent space.
"The Old King's School would allow these organisations to truly focus on programming," he said. "It could be set up in a similar way to Walsh Bay, managed by the state government. It would be the only piece of arts infrastructure managed by the state government west of Lilyfield."
Parramatta Liberal state MP Geoff Lee said: "I have been on record in supporting this site as a potential arts and culture hub. Any decision however will be based upon the scope of the proposed Arts and Culture Precinct."
Asked why a decision on the site's future was taking so long, Mr Lee said: "Urban Growth has been working on the plan for the past 24 months. This is a great opportunity to get the planning right for the adaptive reuse of the heritage buildings and design of a new and vibrant community in the area."
The director of the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, Liz Ann Macgregor, who is also NSW Premier Mike Baird's western Sydney cultural ambassador, declined to comment on specific proposals.
"But I do support the creation of a cultural precinct which could take place in a number of locations, including the Old King's School," she said. "Such a precinct could bring together a number of arts organisations and provide space for rehearsals and the creation of new work."
Last year, Mr Baird suggested the Old King's School site could be used by an arts group at least in the short-term.
"UrbanGrowth is looking at the options in that precinct but I acknowledge that there could be a possibility that an arts group could occupy space on that site (Old King's School) in the meantime," Mr Baird told the Parramatta Advertiser.
The NSW government has promised $600 million in arts funding if it is re-elected on March 28 – contingent on voters backing the partial lease of the state's electricity "poles and wires".
However, the vast majority of the new spending has been committed to renovating the Sydney Opera House ($202 million) and redeveloping Walsh Bay ($139 million) in Sydney's CBD.
Western Sydney's arts budget was doubled to $30 million, with the cost of relocating the Powerhouse Museum to Parramatta paid for by the sale of its Ultimo site.
The NSW government is yet to commit funds to the Sydney CBD-based Art Gallery of NSW's extension plans, which would cost at least $400 million.
A spokeswoman for the deputy Premier and arts minister, Troy Grant, said: "The future use of the King's School site will be examined in the context of the Parramatta North Urban Transformation being prepared by UrbanGrowth NSW."
