Bowling Club Proposal No Las Vegas Precinct

By Marcus Braid on November 5, 2014 in News

The organisation behind a proposed $100 million redevelopment of the Waverley Bowling Club has sought to assure locals that it will not turn into a “Las Vegas or Kings Cross precinct”.

Easts Group, the owner of Waverley Bowling Club, has lodged a proposal with Waverley Council to build a new facility that will include two ten-storey towers, a childcare centre, a learn-to-swim centre, administrative offices, a licensed club, serviced apartments, a function centre and a gym.

The facility would provide a new home for the Sydney Roosters football club and include upgrades to sections of Waverley Oval training fields, but only one bowling green would remain.

Scott Bennetts, CEO of Easts Group, said the bowling club would remain part of the facility.

“To be honest, we’re trying to maintain the sport of bowls on the site with a club facility that’s of a similar size,” he said.

“It’s not going to be a Las Vegas. The status quo can’t remain and it isn’t making money in its current format. We’re just trying to put a proposal up that not only maintains the bowling on site but also appeals to different demographics by having different outlets on there.”

Mr Bennetts pointed to the ongoing losses the club had sustained over the past four years. Easts Group attained ownership of the bowling club in 2009.

“We’ll be finalising the dates of the community consultation probably in the next week or so, and then it will be advertised fairly extensively in the community through our membership to give people enough time and opportunity to come along,” Mr Bennetts said.

Waverley Mayor Sally Betts said the proposal was in the early stages of being assessed and councillors had not yet received a proper briefing. Council would need to rezone the land from ‘RE2 private recreation’ to ‘B4 mixed use’ to allow the proposal to go ahead.
“I have received a one-page email,” she said. “All I’ve got is what everybody else has got.

“I think the proposal is probably too large, but currently there are not a lot of people who play bowls. They have actually kept the bowling green – that is good. People will still be able to play bowls there and there will be an open space.

“They want to have a learn-to-swim pool; I think that’s good. A childcare centre; I think that’s good. Whether the height and the size of some of the residential towers seems excessive, until our offices have assessed it and given me a full briefing, it’s very difficult for me to comment.”

A letter from the presidents of Waverley Bowling Club, Patrick Fitzsimons and Marilyn Eccles, has been sent to club members outlining the reasons why the proposal should be opposed.

“The Waverley Bowling Club Board in 2009 agreed to the amalgamation with the understanding that their club would be upgraded and would be made into a premier bowling site,” the letter wrote.

“The club, as it stands, is a facility that has been proven to be profitable and could be again with good management.”

A number of bowling club members are upset at the current proposal.

“They’ve just done it the wrong way,” club member Mark Riordan said. “They wanted us to run at a loss. Beer went up about 80 cents in six to eight months over the past year and a half.

“I think there has to be a line drawn in the sand and this is a very social club; as a member you’ve got to be looked after a bit more. We’re just going to have nowhere to go; we like to come here.”

Another member was concerned that the development would see the bowling greens disappear altogether.

“They’ve got a picture of one green. That will be a f**king courtyard; that won’t be a green. To get the people onside here, they’ll just put a childcare centre here. They don’t give a f**k about the bowlers.

“We can’t bowl on one green anyway, because we’ve got three teams, and each team needs four rinks. That’ll be 16 people that can’t play. Someone is making some money out of this. That’s why someone like the ICAC should be looking into it.”