News Alberton Oval Redevelopment

[RussellEbertHandball]

I wanted to see the new buildings but couldn't leave a 50th wedding anniversary.

Would appreciate any observations and opinions.

Was supposed to go at about 5.40, got there an hour late, met and talked to a few people, got to front of the MG centre, door was closed, asked one of the staff and they said tours finished at 7pm.

Attending last nights AGM, can say the artificial turf area is a lot more spongier than the old facility, the basketball screen divider was partially up but snuck a quick look and courts look new and shiny as you would expect. The weights room is right behind the artificial turf area and it looks a decent size, rather than a huge area like a few clubs have.

This video will have to do for now.

Andrew Dillon is in the video around 5 seconds in and the federal member for Port Adelaide set scrapped Hindmarsh Mark Butler gets to open in on behalf of Albanese government when it was Morrison who committed the funds.

Great to see MG CEO Peter Ciao being the centre of this. His speech at the MG sponsorship launch at top of Montefiore Hill with Colonel Light pointing he will kick to the southern end, was bloody impressive and said he expected us to be successful.

Love what he said in this article.

Peter Ciao, CEO of MG Motor Australia

On his way to propelling MG Motor Australia to bestseller status, CEO Peter Ciao has broken down barriers both on- and off-road in his new home.

www.theceomagazine.com

Driven to Success: Peter Ciao​

Understanding Australians means understanding two things: Australian wine and Australian football.

“Yes, MG was born in the UK, but that’s it. Even the cars are now made in China. When the cars come here, they are driven by Australian people. I needed to understand Australia as a country and as a people,” the CEO of MG Motor Australia tells The CEO Magazine.


Club's article about the MG Centre.

Port Adelaide opens world-class MG High Performance Centre and community precinct

Port Adelaide has been joined by the Hon Mark Butler MP to officially open the club’s new state-of-the-art training and recovery facility, the MG High Performance Centre.

www.portadelaidefc.com.au

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

MG high performance tying themselves to Port in this video released this morning.

 

[RangaInTeal]

You'd imagine GFG would get some compensatory signage elsewhere at the oval?
Good news if MG have increased their partnership levels.
Not a huge fan of the carpark in the south western pocket, seeing as the outer wing mound and bar/canteen have disappeared. Means most fans will be sandwhiched onto the western side of he ground and very little atmosphere on the eastern side during SANFL and AFLW games?

The Dads army bar was always a highlight these internal trial games.

 

[powermaios24]

did anyone take photos of the new facilities yesterday to post? thanks

 

[Onward To Victory]

How are they going to fit a new stand, community centre and still a bowling club on the current bowling club site? Seems like it will be too much of a squeeze.

A better option seems to be to support the bowling club to locate a different site and then redevelop the area into the grandstand/facility.

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

How are they going to fit a new stand, community centre and still a bowling club on the current bowling club site? Seems like it will be too much of a squeeze.

A better option seems to be to support the bowling club to locate a different site and then redevelop the area into the grandstand/facility.

It is going to be an indoor bowling green, with the facilities similar to what the Hong Kong Football Club have. Lockhart Road.

Bowls SA encourage clubs to develop indoor/synthetic rinks. From page 53 of the City of Port Adelaide & Ennfield Sports Development Plan 2017-2022

 

[Port2Power]

How are they going to fit a new stand, community centre and still a bowling club on the current bowling club site? Seems like it will be too much of a squeeze.

A better option seems to be to support the bowling club to locate a different site and then redevelop the area into the grandstand/facility.

They have brought the property next door to the bowling club and are planning on using that land to build the bowling club.

The property 1A Fifth Avenue Cheltenham with an overall land size of 726m² was purchased in September 2023 for $1,130,000.
It is currently held in a Trust and have acknowledged the purchase of other properties but did not disclose exactly which ones.
This is according to David Koch.

The plan seems to be to acquire all the properties located on Colston street & Seven Avenue that share a physical boundary with PAFC.

Long term goal is to have a boutique stadium which would then allow for more night games/ concerts to be played with significantly less hinderance to the neighbouring residents in terms of light/noise pollution.

The birds-eye view map below shows the area in blue which is the current bowling club along with the yellow area which represents property 1A Fifth Avenue which the club owns.
Koch mentioned they are planning on building part of the new bowling club on the yellow area.

*Possibly number 3 Colston Street Cheltenham may have been purchased just from a quick real estate search.
These property acquisitions most likely have occurred recently during the more financially stable times.

​

 

[DaTBird187]

Important question.

Have the Tim Evans and Scott Hodges signs been fixed? I consider them a true metaphor for the state of the club these days.

 

[Onward To Victory]

Thanks RussellEbertHandball and Port2Power ! That makes more sense now if they will build the stand over an indoor bowling green and have acquired additional land adjacent.

I have long believed that PAFC should purchase all properties along that stretch of Colston St, but I had worried that this would be cost prohibitive (ie would developing that land into another stand and/or additional facilities offset the cost?).

 

[Bump Bailey]

Only now are there “no excuses” for the team apparently…

So bad news guys, the other 11 years don’t count. Sorry!

 

[bow and arrow]

Only now are there “no excuses” for the team apparently…

So bad news guys, the other 11 years don’t count. Sorry!

I think we've heard this every year since 2015!

On SM-S711B using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[Grave Danger]

Can't see that they've hung the premiership flags up yet - probably a bit intimidating putting that sort of expectation on today's players.

#It'snottheSANFLanymore

 

[TazD]

Can't see that they've hung the premiership flags up yet - probably a bit intimidating putting that sort of expectation on today's coaches.

#It'snottheSANFLanymore

Ftfy

 

[VineValerian]

They have brought the property next door to the bowling club and are planning on using that land to build the bowling club.

The property 1A Fifth Avenue Cheltenham with an overall land size of 726m² was purchased in September 2023 for $1,130,000.
It is currently held in a Trust and have acknowledged the purchase of other properties but did not disclose exactly which ones.
This is according to David Koch.

The plan seems to be to acquire all the properties located on Colston street & Seven Avenue that share a physical boundary with PAFC.

Long term goal is to have a boutique stadium which would then allow for more night games/ concerts to be played with significantly less hinderance to the neighbouring residents in terms of light/noise pollution.

The birds-eye view map below shows the area in blue which is the current bowling club along with the yellow area which represents property 1A Fifth Avenue which the club owns.
Koch mentioned they are planning on building part of the new bowling club on the yellow area.

*Possibly number 3 Colston Street Cheltenham may have been purchased just from a quick real estate search.
These property acquisitions most likely have occurred recently during the more financially stable times.

View attachment 1903357

​

Someone did say we have aquired a couple of properties nearby and are looking at further aquisitions down the track.

Plan is for some to be redeveloped to allow players from more remote areas of the country to share aaccommodation with similar others.
Wasn't any time frame or $ value mentioned in relation to this.

Will be interesting to see what happens in this space going forward.

 

[Launchpad McQuack]

Only now are there “no excuses” for the team apparently…

So bad news guys, the other 11 years don’t count. Sorry!

I'd bookmark this tweet for future reference but there's no point. They'll still make excuses and there will still be no accountability.

 

[Papa G]

I take that as Vicki Schwarz having a dig at Koch. She's a lifelong Port supporter.

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

From the Tsier article about the new facility and proposed Stage 4.

The $30m includes - the museum, new retail store, the Precinct venue upstairs, Williams family stand including change rooms underneath it for both home and away teams, the upgrade to old buildings and the new buildings ( the big shed) on the east side, 4 x 38m light towers and lights, the soccer pitch and the various car parks and other landscaping.

https://www.adelaidenow.com.au/sport/afl/teams/port-adelaide/alberton-oval-redevelopment-port-adelaide-planning-to-rebuild-bowls-club-add-new-stand-to-boost-capacity/news-story/1abc75f0cb99c743d78a4e74f40ff6e6

The funding breakdown is: $15m from the federal government, $3m from the state government, $5m from the AFL, mostly for the lights, and $7m from the club.

Koch at the AGM talked about the AFL endorsing Alberton oval to be a boutique stadium for AFLW and AFL reserves with broadcast quality lights. I guess that's what happens when they chip in $5mil, like Princess Park and other venues.

The council conributed $200k to upgrade the electricity infrastructure for the lights. I posted this info from council documents on the redevelopment at post #

• #1,235

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

From the article I linked in the previous post.

Port Adelaide has bold plans to keep expanding Alberton Oval’s footprint so it can boost the ground’s capacity and engage with more community groups.

Next it aims to transform the neighbouring Port Adelaide Bowling Club – a site the Power owns.

By rebuilding the bowls clubrooms slightly further south on acquired land and erecting the ground’s third grandstand, the Power would increase Alberton’s capacity to 10,000.

The revamp of that part of the ground would also include a community learning centre.

Power chairman David Koch hoped redevelopment of the bowling club could start in the next 18 months. (ie when the funding is locked in)

“It’s early stages at the moment and we’re in consultation with the (Port Adelaide Enfield) council and the bowling club are big supporters of it,” Koch said.

“The grand vision is to be a great high-performance sporting precinct that the community gets as much benefit out of as we do. “This will become a boutique, broadcast stadium with 10,000 for AFLW, SANFL and then AFL reserves.”

 

[Papa G]

Is the upgrade to a 10k capacity really needed? Seems a bit of overkill to me. Are 10k going to rock up to watch the B grade, or the Z grade in the case of the women?

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

Is the upgrade to a 10k capacity really needed? Seems a bit of overkill to me. Are 10k going to rock up to watch the B grade, or the Z grade in the case of the women?

I think building new facilities and new rooms the club can use is the real reason behind the new Bowling Club redevelopment.

I reckon any new grandstand on the Bowling Club land will seat around 1,500 people, like the Quinn stand.

So to get to 8k to 10k it will still need 4k to 6k standing up or allowed to bring deck chairs all around the ground.

Maybe bring in a temporary stand seating like old Adelaide Oval finals day if they reckon they will get 10k for 2 or 3 games in a row.

But the Bowling Club will get new indoor rinks, new function room and new storage rooms and offices and the footy club will be able to use the facilities, but there will be areas at the back of or under of the grandstand that the footy club will control.

The club might also be able to use the Bowling Club function room and not upset the Precinct restaurant set up. Eg those business lunches might be better to host in the new Bowling Club set up than in the Precinct which has that area with the big TV screen that sort of divides the room in half.

Plus just like AFLW, its a way of leveraging government funds.

If I got off my arse, I would have written up my notes from the AGM in that thread, but I asked Kevin Osborn about funding for stage 4 development as Koch reckons our Net Assets will go from $32.7m in 2023 to $80m in 2026. That suggests stage 4 will be a $35m to $40m project.

I asked Kevin Osborn about the financing for it, and said is that Bequest program the club has set up over 20 years ago starting to provide the funding for it, as people are dying and leaving assets and $$$ to the club?? He said that is part of it, but some of the expected profits we generate over next 3 years as well as government funding, maybe a bit of debt, will fund that.

I was surprised by the government funding call and asked if they are confident that the feds will still give handouts to sporting clubs after the Morrison government's dodgy community grants program and he said yes and he said he expected state and local government funding.

Basically AFLW -------> lever to government community grants,
Bowling Club ----------> lever to different government community grants

If the land was empty and no Bowling Club, no government grants, is my thinking.

 

[Enviable Tradition]

I'm assuming the indoor bowling greens will be made available for the AFLW women for indoor training.

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

They have brought the property next door to the bowling club and are planning on using that land to build the bowling club.

The property 1A Fifth Avenue Cheltenham with an overall land size of 726m² was purchased in September 2023 for $1,130,000.
It is currently held in a Trust and have acknowledged the purchase of other properties but did not disclose exactly which ones.
This is according to David Koch.

The plan seems to be to acquire all the properties located on Colston street & Seven Avenue that share a physical boundary with PAFC.

P2P can you just clarify what you mean by - they (I assume you mean PAFC) have bought the property and it is currently held in a trust.

Do you mean the club has paid for it and it sits in some trust controlled by PAFC, or it sits a trust not associated with the club and the club hasn't paid for it yet, but has signed a contract to do so at some point?? Or some other situation?

 

[Lockhart Road]

If the indoor facility is modelled on the Hong Kong Football Club this is what the indoor ‘Lawn‘ (carpet) Bowling rinks will look like.

The HKFC has seven rinks, situated on the first floor of its three-storey (plus tennis courts on roof) club house.

 

[Port2Power]

P2P can you just clarify what you mean by - they (I assume you mean PAFC) have bought the property and it is currently held in a trust.

Do you mean the club has paid for it and it sits in some trust controlled by PAFC, or it sits a trust not associated with the club and the club hasn't paid for it yet, but has signed a contract to do so at some point?? Or some other situation?

Yes, by they I mean PAFC, yes the club owns the property outright and is in a trust controlled by PAFC as per Koch

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

Yes, by they I mean PAFC, yes the club owns the property outright and is in a trust controlled by PAFC as per Koch

Thanks.

I wonder if the Bequest program donations sit in this trust and is a reason why the assets may not be consolidated into the PAFC Ltd's account.

If the PAFC Ltd is the legal controller of the trust as the trustee, then they have to be consolidated into their accounts, but if Port Adelaide individuals are the trustees ie whoever is the PAFC Chairman, whoever is the PAFC CEO etc and other individuals, then it doesn't have to be consolidated into the PAFC Ltd accounts.