How much prestigious Melbourne rowing clubs are really worth

Rowing clubs boasting prime riverside locations in Melbourne’s CBD are charging as much as $4,500 for venue hire, with private schools also paying through the nose to sublet the sites.

Melbourne rowing clubs pay just $1 a year to lease prime riverside land. Picture: Josie Hayden

Rowing clubs in prime riverside locations are charging as much as $4,500 for events despite paying just $1 a year in rent.

Seven rowing clubs located on land estimated to be worth more than $200m are reeling in big bucks by subleasing to elite schools and hiring out rooms for functions at high rates.

The clubs – Melbourne University, Yarra Yarra, Banks, Melbourne Grammar, Mercantile, Melbourne and Richmond – are situated along the Yarra River on Boathouse Drive, backing onto Alexandra Gardens.

They are on City of Melbourne leases, which run until 2034.

The rowing clubs previously paid $104 a year for each boat shed, but the rents were reduced to $1 a year in 2013.

The clubs sublease to private schools such as St Catherine’s, Brighton Grammar, Loreto, Methodist Ladies College and Ruyton.

But some also hire out the premises for weddings and corporate events.

Richmond Rowing Club. Picture: Ellen Smith

Richmond charges up to $4,500 for a private licensed event, according to the venue hire quote calculator on their website.

It is understood the clubs, which are mainly run by volunteers, are technically open to members of the public for a price, but remain focused on “high performance rowing”.

Since 2012, the clubs have invested about $7m in the sheds. They are responsible for all repairs, maintenance and upgrades.

Melbourne University charges between $710 and $975 for adult members per year, who row for the club.

There are memberships available for students from the university – $885 for performance rowers and $480 for non-competitive rowers. Alumni can also gain access to the boathouse and gym for $410 a year.

There is a social membership available for $135 a year for “members or friends that no longer row nor use club facilities but wish to remain a part of the MUBC family”.

The peppercorn rent is available to tenant organisations who provide public benefit. Picture: Tony Gough

Their website says all clubhouse and equipment users are required to be “financial members of MUBC” except when arrangements are made with other “schools, club, institute or visitor”, including Xavier College, Trinity Grammar and the Victorian Institute of Sport.

Melbourne Grammar’s website says their boat club is a “not-for-profit parent support group that coordinates season events and logistics for regattas and raises much needed funds for equipment, skills development, events and other support not otherwise available from the school”.

It says all rowing families at the school are “strongly encouraged” to join the “special boat club community”. There is no mention of memberships for non-school aligned or recreational rowers.

The school had more than $288m in total assets in 2022, their most recent financial documents reveal.

The private school charges $41,640 in tuition fees for a Year 12 student.

Head of Capital Markets Victoria at Jones Lang LaSalle, Josh Rutman, said that based on CBD land values of about $30,000-$50,000 per square metre, the buildings could be worth up to $239m.

Mr Rutman said it is “incredibly rare” to find waterfront real estate in Melbourne.

“Anything that ever comes up along the Yarra, in or close to the city, receives a great deal of interest from local and offshore investors,” he said.

Council Watch president Dean Hurlston said the rowing clubs’ so-called “peppercorn rents” were designed to facilitate the council effectively giving land away instead of receiving commercial rent because the tenant is an organisation which provides a public benefit.

“We would want to be seeing a really good community benefit that council can articulate to understand why they would give this piece of land away – at not even just a subsidised rent – but for $1,” he said.

“Because it’s the City of Melbourne residents who are essentially foregoing council money, and income.”

The land is estimated to be worth up to $239m. Picture: Josie Hayden

Mr Hurlston said organisations on peppercorn rent deals should publicly disclose income and revenue sources.

“If a community can’t openly access the facilities – that’s not right. If it’s an exclusive rowing club that’s been holding exclusive events – time to revisit,” he said.

“I’m sure residents don’t want councils to be subsidising private schools or private clubs for their own commercial use.”

Yarra Yarra said they are “anything but a purely high performance-focused club” and offer a popular ‘Learn to Row’ program for beginners.

They said they are allowed to host a “small number” of licenced events for non-members per year as part of a “very strict” Liquor Licence agreement.

“ … this ‘private function’ revenue is important to help us not just with operational and running costs, but also to help set aside funds for building maintenance, and repair and replacement of rowing equipment,” they said.

“We are keenly aware of the privilege that is afforded us by the terms of our agreement with the City of Melbourne, as well as the restrictions posed on us as part of that agreement, which limit the revenue we can generate through other means.

“Without this type of lease from the City of Melbourne, the sport of rowing would most likely disappear from the banks of the Yarra, as it would become too costly to provide these services to the community.”

Rowing remains an elite sport offered by only a small number of high-fee private schools and a handful of public schools with river access.

This is mostly due to the price of equipment, with boats costing anywhere from $60,000 to $120,000 for an eight-seater.

Parents at Loreto and Shelford fork out more than $2500 for rowing despite paying more than $30,000 in tuition.

Rowing parents are encouraged to give generously to the rowing programs, with schools using the Australian Sports Foundation to make generous tax-deductible donations.

Last year at Xavier there was a goal to raise $65,000, after raising $30,000 the year before.