Carey Grammar to take over struggling MCC bowls club
Kew private school Carey Grammar is buying up Barkers Rd, adding the struggling MCC Kew Sports Club to its property portfolio in a move the school says will benefit the wider community.
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Private school Carey Grammar has expanded its Kew footprint, snapping up the beleaguered MCC Kew Sports Club 200 metres up the road.
The school will take possession of the Barkers Rd property at the end of March, next year.
The MCC pumped $5 mil into the former Kew Heights Sports Club but called time on the facility in September.
In a statement to the Carey school community, Carey board chair Jane Simon and outgoing principal Philip Grutzner said they bought the property in a competitive tender.
A price for the site was not disclosed to families.
“We are delighted to inform you that Carey has purchased the MCC Kew Sports Club at 397 Barkers Road, just 200 metres to the east of the main Carey Kew campus,” the letter said.
“We would like to acknowledge and thank the MCC Foundation for their collaboration in negotiating a successful outcome for Carey and the local community.”
While there was disquiet among bowlers when news that the facility would be sold broke, the Carey leaders said the “broader community will benefit enormously from Carey’s acquisition of this site”.
It is unclear what access bowlers, who have been using the facility for nearly 140 years, will have around the school’s timetable.
The acquisition adds to Carey’s campuses at Kew and Donvale, where it runs an early learning centre and primary school, a sports complex in Bulleen and Camp Toonallook, an outdoor facility in East Gippsland.
“The location and potential of the property complements and supports Carey’s strategic vision and provides an outstanding opportunity to facilitate the current and future educational, sporting and wellbeing needs of our students,” the school said.
It said Carey would use the facility in keeping with the philosophy of founders of the Kew Heights Bowling and Tennis Club and more recently, the MCC Foundation.
“A primary objective for the MCC Foundation was to ensure the site remained for the use of sport and the benefit of the community. Carey’s vision is that the site will become a sports centre for our students, enabling a wide range of sports and activities, for all abilities and for use by Carey and the wider community,” it said.
Carey’s Ms Simon and Mr Grutzner, who takes over as headmaster at his alma mater Melbourne Grammar School in 2020, said “pending town planning and regulatory approvals, Carey students and staff will immediately benefit from the current facilities, including the tennis courts and bowling greens for sport and physical education, the club house and off-street parking”.
“During 2020, Carey will work with the MCC Foundation, who currently own the MCC Kew Sports Club, to oversee the smooth transition with the facility’s stakeholders and wider community groups ensuring these groups’ connection, contribution and history is acknowledged and celebrated,” they said.
Carey said subject to community consultation and Boroondara Council town planning requirements, it plans to redevelop the site over time to further enhance the benefits for students.
“Our general plans include retaining the existing club house and off-street parking as well as the development of some new facilities,” it said.
A SYNTHETIC sports pitch providing a multipurpose, all-weather surface for sports practice and physical education classes, including soccer, hockey, tennis, netball, basketball was planned.
A SPORTS hall with four indoor multipurpose courts to accommodate basketball, netball, volleyball, badminton, table tennis and physical education classes is planned.
IMPROVED on site parking. The car park currently has provision for 40 cars.
“We anticipate the site will also accommodate before and after school sports practice, recreation space for students and use of the club house for classroom activities, toilets, changerooms, school events, meetings and indoor activities. When not being used by Carey, the wider community can access the facility,” the school leaders told parents in a letter sent out today.
In a bid to head off concern, it said Carey endeavoured to be a “good and responsible neighbour and will ensure any development of this site will be done sympathetically and in keeping with the neighbourhood feel of this part of Melbourne”.
“We will engage leading architectural, landscape design and planning consultants, engage with the local community and work closely with the Boroondara Council to achieve mutually beneficial outcomes for all,” it pledged.
The school said the site would link in with its commitment to environmental sustainability. “Being within close walking distance to Carey’s main campus, Carey’s environmental footprint from bus and car trips to other sporting venues will be reduced,” it said.
“Our reliance on hiring other venues will also be minimised and this will improve the access for other schools and community groups for the hire of those venues.
“Carey’s existing environmental goals will apply to the development and then use of the site, including the harvesting and recycling of rainwater, the use of solar power to reduce carbon emissions and recycling.”
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The MCC said Carey was the successful bidder in a “competitive and closed tender process arrangement” managed by Ernst & Young’s Real Estate Advisory Services.
MCC president Michael Happell said paramount to any divestment was that the facilities continued to benefit the wider community.
“We are pleased Carey Baptist Grammar School, who pride themselves on giving their students educational opportunities to become wise, independent and motivated young people, were the successful bidder,” he said.
“Carey was able to share their vision and committed to retaining the site for sporting use and for community use outside of school hours which clearly aligned with our main objective.”
There are about 600 registered users playing bowls, tennis and bridge.
At one point it was hoped that the Boorondara Council would buy the site.