Sunshine Coast Sports Hub: What drove the $27m project
Frustrated by the talent draining away from the region and constantly dipping into their own pockets, Clayton Williams and Shane O'Brien had to take action.
Sunshine Coast
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FRUSTRATED by the talent draining away from the region and constantly dipping into their own pockets, Clayton Williams and Shane O'Brien knew they had to take action.
The Duporth Tavern publican and the Vantage Homes boss teamed up to become the driving forces behind the $27 million Sports Hub Sunshine Coast development at Bokarina.
The high performance sports hub project just metres from Sunshine Coast Stadium and Lake Kawana is now months from opening.
Stage one, made up of the high performance gym and sports services and the second-stage, a three-star hotel with 84 rooms of low-cost accommodation and more than 330 carparks, opens in April next year.
The high performance aspect of the project will feature the gym, sports physiotherapy, osteo experts, martial arts spaces and even a hyperbaric chamber.
Mr Williams, co-founder of The Sports Hub, said it was about 70 per cent leased already.
"It's coming together nicely,” he said.
The Brothers Rugby Union vice president said the hub would be ideal for teams wanting to base themselves in the centre and train on nearby ovals and even the lake.
He said it had been a seven-year journey to get to this point and there'd been many challenges.
But throughout the journey they had focussed on one thing - providing young athletes with a choice of remaining on the Coast and continuing their development, instead of being forced to move away to pursue their dreams.
A desire to get a Sunshine Coast rugby union side playing in the Brisbane Premier competition also burns within Mr Williams and he hoped the new project could help deliver that.
The third stage, a licensed club, is still some time away, but is seen as a crucial element to the facility.
The licensed club would operate like a surf club and funnel funding back into local clubs like the Sunshine Coast Falcons, enabling them to become more competitive financially with other clubs in the Intrust Super Cup which benefit from affiliated leagues clubs.
"We just had to get off our a--- and go and do it,” Mr Williams said.
"I just want to know that the funding will go back to those clubs.
"In time, the club is key to get funding back to the teams.”
Mr Williams said he was encouraged by the quality of tenants already, including 02 Performance owner and exercise scientist Miguel Rojano and renowned sports physiotherapist Greg Craig of The Knee Joint, who were both committed to the hub.
"We're very excited about that. They're some key tenants,” he said.
"We want to give them (young athletes) the option to stay local.”
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