News We’re going to Dingleyland! Construction to begin.

[Strapping Young Lad]

 

[seysearles]

Where have you got the info about Collingwood's facility being the best from? Have they upgraded that recently? It hasn't been called that for a while either.

This is just anecdotal from things i've seen in the media where players have crossed from other clubs and been blown away by the setup the Pies have. One thing about the Lexus centre from a fan perspective is the location. Its right in the guts of the city and so easy to access with public transport or even walking from the CBD. I am sure this is attractive for the players also. I know for example I will be less inclined to swing past Dingley to use the facilities or watch training purely because of the fact that its so far for anyone who doesn't live deep into the eastern suburbs.

And us owning a giant plot of land where if we want a basketball stadium we can build one, if we want an olympic size pool we can build one. If we don't want anyone watching us train we lock the door, if want another half oval for goal kicking practice we have it.

This is a very good point which I hadn't considered. I guess there is also a lot of opportunity for parallel ventures to generate money from the land. To be honest i dont know that part of Melbourne well enough but you could potentially have strip malls and other commercial facilities which are good money spinners out there to service the public. Does anyone know how restricted we are with the zoning for that sort of thing? Is Dingley and the surrounding suburbs considered middle class suburbia with high land value and decent purchasing power?

Edit: Actually upon closer inspection my grand property development ideas probably wont be viable as there isn't such a huge amount of excess land left over once the facility is completed.



This is the land we will have available for development following the completion of the first phase. I'm not sure why we need four ovals. It seems that the architects are just filling in the vacant land for the sake of it.

 

[kazzooka]

This is just anecdotal from things i've seen in the media where players have crossed from other clubs and been blown away by the setup the Pies have. One thing about the Lexus centre from a fan perspective is the location. Its right in the guts of the city and so easy to access with public transport or even walking from the CBD. I am sure this is attractive for the players also. I know for example I will be less inclined to swing past Dingley to use the facilities or watch training purely because of the fact that its so far for anyone who doesn't live deep into the eastern suburbs.



This is a very good point which I hadn't considered. I guess there is also a lot of opportunity for parallel ventures to generate money from the land. To be honest i dont know that part of Melbourne well enough but you could potentially have strip malls and other commercial facilities which are good money spinners out there to service the public. Does anyone know how restricted we are with the zoning for that sort of thing? Is Dingley and the surrounding suburbs considered middle class suburbia with high land value and decent purchasing power?

Edit: Actually upon closer inspection my grand property development ideas probably wont be viable as there isn't such a huge amount of excess land left over once the facility is completed.

View attachment 2115078

This is the land we will have available for development following the completion of the first phase. I'm not sure why we need four ovals. It seems that the architects are just filling in the vacant land for the sake of it.


View attachment 2115081

It's in a greenwedge and unlikely to ever get rezoned for housing or businesses. I'm sure we may be able to have a merch shop, maybe a cafe and function hall. But there not going to put a strip mall in there.

As for the area, most houses go for about 1,000,000 these days a nice 4 bedroom will be more, some recent sames for 1.4 or 1.5. The nicer houses are those in your image on the other side of Tootal Rd as that is a more recent development. It is exactly middle class suburbia. Most residents own their homes and there's lots of pools and caravans around.

Closer to the shops there is the old Kingswood Golf Course which is going to have 700 new houses built on it. Australian Super sold that land earlier in the year for 220Million. It is about twice the area as our land.

I would say the most money making ventures from the ground will be from AFLW games initially. If we do the final stages and build the 6 court baskeball stadium that will be home to a competition. The area is undeserved for basketball.

A restaurant and function venue would do well.

 

[Hawkers Hero]

It's in a greenwedge and unlikely to ever get rezoned for housing or businesses. I'm sure we may be able to have a merch shop, maybe a cafe and function hall. But there not going to put a strip mall in there.

As for the area, most houses go for about 1,000,000 these days a nice 4 bedroom will be more, some recent sames for 1.4 or 1.5. The nicer houses are those in your image on the other side of Tootal Rd as that is a more recent development. It is exactly middle class suburbia. Most residents own their homes and there's lots of pools and caravans around.

Closer to the shops there is the old Kingswood Golf Course which is going to have 700 new houses built on it. Australian Super sold that land earlier in the year for 220Million. It is about twice the area as our land.

I would say the most money making ventures from the ground will be from AFLW games initially. If we do the final stages and build the 6 court baskeball stadium that will be home to a competition. The area is undeserved for basketball.

A restaurant and function venue would do well.

You are right about the green wedge, will never be redeveloped for housing

I think the club is also looking to try and get approvals for radiology/medical centre on site which will give us better access for scans etc and bring in a rental stream as well.

 

[kazzooka]

One thing about the Lexus centre from a fan perspective is the location. Its right in the guts of the city and so easy to access with public transport or even walking from the CBD. I am sure this is attractive for the players also. I know for example I will be less inclined to swing past Dingley to use the facilities or watch training purely because of the fact that its so far for anyone who doesn't live deep into the eastern suburbs.

Just on the location again as it keeps being brought up. While CBD is okay for fans for lexus centre or punt road, it's not really that great for families or players. I work in Cremorne and it's a pain driving into there and getting parking. I'm sure players have parking for training, but going to a Richmond or Collingwood family day with kids is okay but train but not the best.

And for most fans. Going into the City is a big commute. The CBD despite being central between east and west, in terms of the Melbourne population is not very central. The centre of Melbourne is actually Springvale Rd with roughly a 50/50 split either side.

I understand many players live in inner city suburbs and like that lifestyle with plenty around. But a huge amount of players grew up in and are now living in Bayside suburbs which outside of Albert Park, Toorak etc.. are the most desirable. And we are right in that pocket.

Think about guys like Dear, Mackenzie, Watson, Macdonald in 6 years time in their absolute primes and hitting free agency, and perhaps married and having kids. Do they move interstate? travel to footscray or tullarmarine?

Or do they buy a family home in Sandringham, Hampton or beamaris, near where they grew up in Melbourne's south east close to where their families are still living, the best private schools and a short low traffic commute to work.

 

[AlwaysHawks15]

Just on the location again as it keeps being brought up. While CBD is okay for fans for lexus centre or punt road, it's not really that great for families or players. I work in Cremorne and it's a pain driving into there and getting parking. I'm sure players have parking for training, but going to a Richmond or Collingwood family day with kids is okay but train but not the best.

And for most fans. Going into the City is a big commute. The CBD despite being central between east and west, in terms of the Melbourne population is not very central. The centre of Melbourne is actually Springvale Rd with roughly a 50/50 split either side.

I understand many players live in inner city suburbs and like that lifestyle with plenty around. But a huge amount of players grew up in and are now living in Bayside suburbs which outside of Albert Park, Toorak etc.. are the most desirable. And we are right in that pocket.

Think about guys like Dear, Mackenzie, Watson, Macdonald in 6 years time in their absolute primes and hitting free agency, and perhaps married and having kids. Do they move interstate? travel to footscray or tullarmarine?

Or do they buy a family home in Sandringham, Hampton or beamaris, near where they grew up in Melbourne's south east close to where their families are still living, the best private schools and a short low traffic commute to work.

The south east is the biggest population growth in the state. We will be in the centre of all that. Far out as Berwick and Pakenham will potentially be a Hawthorn goldmine with Dingley up and running.

 

[peetoo]

I reckon that narrower community oval with grandstand wing will be excellent to get used to playing these narrow and mis shaped grounds.

 

[OnTheRocks]

The south east is the biggest population growth in the state. We will be in the centre of all that. Far out as Berwick and Pakenham will potentially be a Hawthorn goldmine with Dingley up and running.

Need to build a wall from Hampton to Bundoora

 

[Walshawk]

The south east is the biggest population growth in the state. We will be in the centre of all that. Far out as Berwick and Pakenham will potentially be a Hawthorn goldmine with Dingley up and running.

Don’t reckon the location of a club’s training ground has much impact on growth/support. On field success is the main driver, and Dingley should help deliver that.

Also accessibility is important. If we want to grow our support in Melbourne, we should play more games in Melbourne. That will have more positive impact that the location of our training venue.

 

[kazzooka]

Don’t reckon the location of a club’s training ground has much impact on growth/support. On field success is the main driver, and Dingley should help deliver that.

Also accessibility is important. If we want to grow our support in Melbourne, we should play more games in Melbourne. That will have more positive impact that the location of our training venue.

Good training venue leads to success on field. No surprise that we land 2 big fish now that construction is underway after many years of failure. We started this process in 2015 and COVID delays meant players would have been unsure if we would ever move.

We're in such a good position at the moment and I think we will be pushing 90k members next year.

 

[bigmaxi]

Just on the location again as it keeps being brought up. While CBD is okay for fans for lexus centre or punt road, it's not really that great for families or players. I work in Cremorne and it's a pain driving into there and getting parking. I'm sure players have parking for training, but going to a Richmond or Collingwood family day with kids is okay but train but not the best.

And for most fans. Going into the City is a big commute. The CBD despite being central between east and west, in terms of the Melbourne population is not very central. The centre of Melbourne is actually Springvale Rd with roughly a 50/50 split either side.

I understand many players live in inner city suburbs and like that lifestyle with plenty around. But a huge amount of players grew up in and are now living in Bayside suburbs which outside of Albert Park, Toorak etc.. are the most desirable. And we are right in that pocket.

Think about guys like Dear, Mackenzie, Watson, Macdonald in 6 years time in their absolute primes and hitting free agency, and perhaps married and having kids. Do they move interstate? travel to footscray or tullarmarine?

Or do they buy a family home in Sandringham, Hampton or beamaris, near where they grew up in Melbourne's south east close to where their families are still living, the best private schools and a short low traffic commute to work.

Think you are on the money here. Build it and they will come and they will stay. One of the silver linings to curtailing some of the development of Dingley, is that future decisions on land use will be better placed, a focused sports/science/medical center would be a great add, as would a basketball stadium and more sport orientated mixed use. Creating a sports precinct in this space will be a game changer for the area. I have high hopes for Dingley, we are on the right track.