South Sydney Rabbitohs’ new Maroubra home one step closer

Randwick Council has given its blessing to a 21-year lease with the South Sydney Rabbitohs as work on the NRL club’s new headquarters at Maroubra gathers pace.

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The South Sydney Rabbitohs are one step closer to a new Maroubra home after Randwick Council settled on a lease arrangement with the NRL club.

The council at Tuesday’s ordinary meeting gave its blessing for general manager Therese Manns to sign a lease with Souths for the club to use the $25 million community and high-performance centre proposed for Heffron Park.

South Sydney and the council will agree on a 21-year lease. Construction will begin after the approval of an imminent development application and is estimated to take 18 months.

Rabbitohs planned Centre of Excellence at Heffron Park.

The centre would be used as the Rabbitohs’ headquarters and training base.

It would also feature a merchandise store, a 120-seat classroom and be home to club’s administration, including community outreach arm Souths Cares.

But the centre would also provide facilities that would be open to the community.

Plans include a gymnastics centre, indoor courts suitable for futsal, basketball, netball, volleyball and badminton, and a public cafe to be built by the council.

The centre would provide sport and recreation facilities for the community.

Souths’ chief executive Blake Solly said in November the world-class centre would provide the club with financial stability.

“We’re in line to make a $1.3 million profit this year alone. That money is being reinvested in our club with the pathways teams and the CHPC being the focus of the investment as it has been in the past, and we intend it to be so in the future,” he said.

“It will mean Souths Cares has new facilities which will benefit not only the community in South Sydney, but also visitors from around the state, the country and from overseas.”

South Sydney Rabbitohs chief executive Blake Solly. Picture: supplied.

All three levels of government have committed funding to build the state-of-the-art centre, which would replace dated council facilities on the Bunnerong Rd side of Heffron Park.

The State Government has pledged more than $8,600,000 to the project, while the Federal Government has committed $10 million and the council $3 million. Souths itself will spend $4 million on the plans.