Playford Council to spend $8 million on building new Grenville Centre for retirees

A northern council will spend an extra $2.8 million building a community hub for retirees – after they demanded their own facility.

BUILDING a new community hub for northern suburb retirees will cost $2.8 million more than originally planned.

The Grenville Centre at Elizabeth has been bulldozed to make way for a $50 million privately built hotel.

A new facility to replace the Grenville Centre is going to be built on a site next to a carpark which will service the hotel.

The building originally was going to be located elsewhere and be one-level for a variety of users, including being a community hub for retirees.

Else Lydiksen, Kate McGoran, Lois Ward, May Dunlop, Lily Boyce pictured at the Grenville Centre in Playford, which is celebrating 35 years of working with local over 50s. (AAP Image/Sam Wundke)

It since has been relocated to the site beside the carpark and will be two storeys to accommodate requests by retirees for their own facility.

The change in the design has added $2.8 million to the existing $5.2 million budget, taking the total cost of the project to $8 million.

The future design of the Grenville Centre was questioned by one of its users, Maxine Levelle, during a recent council meeting.

Mrs Levelle, of Blakeview, said the council had broken a promise to build a new Grenville Centre before it demolished the existing facility.

“Then, because a private buyer wanted to build a hotel, we were told our building would be moved,” she said.

“The land is a smaller block than it should have been and there is no way we can do things that we were doing in the old building.

“It is all too small for what we need but we’ve been told over and over again that we have to put up with that block because that is it.”

The Grenville Centre has been demolished at Elizabeth to make way for a luxury hotel. Picture: COLIN JAMES

The Grenville Centre has been a popular gathering place for retirees since it was built by the community in the 1980s, hosting a variety of events and activities.

Playford Mayor Glenn Docherty rejected Mrs Levelle’s claims that the new Grenville Centre was going to be smaller than the original building.

“It’s actually going to be substantially bigger and they will have more room than they had before,” he said.

Mr Docherty said Grenville Centre members had been regularly consulted about the new building.

The Grenville Centre has been demolished at Elizabeth to make way for a luxury hotel. Picture: COLIN JAMES

“Many forums have been held to seek the guidance of members and to take on their feedback, with alterations made to the building plan where possible,” he said.

“Reducing the floor space available to them has never been considered.

“Far from reducing the space, we are significantly increasing what is available to Grenville patrons.”

Mr Docherty said the new Grenville Centre would be 1358sq m, compared to the old centre’s 907sq m.

Retirees are using the Playford Civic Centre for their activities until the new Grenville Centre was completed.