Paul Starick: SA Government’s punt against the Crows’ Brompton Gasworks site plans misses the mark

The Brompton Gasworks could have been hallowed turf for generations of Crows fans. Instead it will become just another housing and commercial development to boost the coffers of a Victorian firm, writes Paul Starick.

The Brompton Gasworks could have become hallowed turf for generations of fans of the state’s biggest sporting club, the Adelaide Crows.

Instead, the 5.81ha inner-western site will become just another housing and commercial development to boost the coffers of a Victorian firm.

Treasurer Rob Lucas, a long-suffering St Kilda supporter, has chosen to accept Victorian dollars ahead of the community support of the legion of Crows fans who want a home base for their club.

Adelaide has the AFL’s fifth-largest supporter base of 661,000 fans, according to Roy Morgan research published late last year. This is more than double Port Adelaide’s 302,000 and a huge slice of the state’s population of 1.77m.

Little more than a month before an election, the Crows’ base is a powerful bloc to risk putting off-side.

Bowden was the Crows’ preferred site, despite Thebarton being kept in the running – fortunately as it turns out.

WHAT IT IS NOW: The Brompton Gasworks site. Picture: Supplied by Renewal SA

WHAT IT COULD HAVE BEEN: Artist impressions of the Adelaide Crows’ proposed headquarters at the Gasworks site in Bowden.

The Crows’ proposal would have created valuable inner-city open space and continued the transformation of an industrial area with housing and commercial precincts.

Opposition Leader Peter Malinauskas, a Port supporter whose electorate includes the Brompton site, rightly points out that the Crows’ proposal included 57 per cent open space versus MAB’s 25 per cent. Plus the Crows’ plan would have created $3.1bn in economic activity over 20 years.

“Between Port Rd and Torrens Rd in the Bowden and Brompton community there’s no oval for people to kick a footy or play cricket,” Mr Malinauskas told The Advertiser.

The “piazza surrounded by cafes, restaurants and bars” promised by Melbourne developer MAB for the gasworks has already been created successfully just 400m away at Plant 4 Bowden – the former Clipsal site.

HAT IT COULD HAVE BEEN: Artist impressions of the Adelaide Crows’ proposed headquarters at the Gasworks site in Bowden.

MAB’s claim to fame, the NewQuay village in Melbourne’s Docklands, is in a precinct that has failed to live up to its hype.

So much so that Docklands Chamber of Commerce executive officer Shane Wylie in December last year said the precinct had to reinvent itself and not rely on corporate workers to rescue it anymore.

“It needs to become a destination, it needs to become a place where people can enjoy themselves in Melbourne because of its proximity to the CBD,” he said.

Mr Lucas is a canny and experienced Treasurer but, in this case, his punt against the Crows has well and truly missed the mark.

Paul Starick is an Adelaide Football Club foundation member