New Adelaide City Council report into Aquatic Centre confirms tens of millions need to be spent on its redevelopment
Adelaide Football Club says it could still revisit plans to relocate to the Aquatic Centre in future. It comes as the City Council considers four multimillion-dollar options to breathe new life into the ailing facility.
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Adelaide Crows chairman Rob Chapman says the club could revisit plans in a couple of years to take over the Adelaide Aquatic Centre, as a new report outlines upgrade options and flags a near doubling of visitor demand by 2030.
In April, the club was forced to withdraw from the $65 million parklands project, which would have given it a new city base and rebuilt the swimming complex for public use, due to the financial impact of COVID-19 on the club.
Mr Chapman said the club’s focus was paying debt, but noted the foundations remained in place for its city project to spring back to life.
“It will be making sure we have the balance sheet right and our expenses are under control. I think we will look at that again in a couple of years,” he said.
“We have some good intellectual property there.
“It is not going to be lost but we can pull it out at the right time.”
When the club withdrew in April, chief executive Andrew Fagan said he hoped to revisit the project next year “should it remain a viable option”.
Mr Chapman’s comments come as Adelaide City Council, which owns and operates the centre, prepares to consider a consultant’s report outlining four upgrade options costing between $29.5 million and $60.2 million.
The Warren Green Consulting report says the dearest option would be 26,000sqm with a 50m pool, spectator seating, spa, sauna, large gym and creche.
The cheapest scenario would be 11,100sqm with a 25m pool, gym, cafe and activity areas.
It projects visitor demand will rise from around 700,000 a year – which is below the industry benchmark of around 1.2 million – to more than 1.3 million.
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The council’s chief executive, Mark Goldstone, said: “Given the Adelaide Football Club has recently withdrawn its proposal, our focus remains solely on the aquatic centre needs analysis.”
Deputy Lord Mayor Alex Hyde worried the council would not be able to fund a rebuild on its own because of the COVID-19 financial impact.
“How are we possibly going to fund it now, when we could barely afford to do it before?,” Cr Hyde said.
Lord Mayor Sandy Verschoor was contacted for comment.
The centre remains closed after shutting on March 19 due to the pandemic.
The council would not say when it might reopen, despite the reopening of the SA Aquatic & Leisure Centre at Oaklands Park and the Thebarton Aquatic Centre.
In a statement, the council said it was “not viable” to open for the allowed limit of 80 people.