After ten years at the Richmond Community Education Centre, a change of address for the Centre along with some organisational changes, meant that The Boîte needed to find a new home. After staging a highly successful 1988 New Year’s Gala attended by nearly 500 people at the Mission to Seafarers in Port Melbourne, The Boîte accepted an offer to take up residency there in 1989.
The building was in need of substantial repair and its future was uncertain, with substantial redevelopment of Port Melbourne proposed at the time. However, it offered suitable performance spaces and perhaps some historical alignment given it stood where immigrants to Melbourne had once disembarked from ships to arrive at their new home.
New Year’s Eve Mission to Seafarers Poster, 1988 
Calendar Poster for Mission to Seafarers concerts and workshops, 1989
In the 1986 Annual report, The Boîte described their optimism for the potential of the venue:
‘The bold stature of the building cannot disguise the signs of neglect: Uncut grass, broken window, peeling paint and unpredictable plumbing to name but a few. But there are signs of a new lease of life. A high carving at the entrance, a fresh coat of paint in the chapel and posters advertising forthcoming art classes…. our expectation is that the Seamen’s Mission will become a thriving, community arts centre within a year.’
Despite this positive outlook, The Boîte’s tenancy would only last a short time, with The Boîte relocating to the Uniting Church building at 123 Napier Street Fitzroy, where it would stay for 21 years.