Sensational-Adelaide.com

Goodbye to City Beach?
http://city-messenger.whereilive.com.au ... ty-beachr/
25 AUG 11 @ 07:30AM BY TIM WILLIAMS

IN TRAINING: Elite beach volleyball player Alice Rohkamper at the City Beach centre. Picture: Helen Orr.
THE City Beach volleyball centre could be sold by the City Council to help fund major projects.

Volleyball SA general manager Andrew Rumbelow said he was resigned to the 10-year-old centre leaving the CBD - a move that would mean losing its best revenue stream and shedding staff.

Mr Rumbelow said he had been in talks with council staff over the past two months, leading up to the expiry of his organisation’s lease this month.

An average of 2000 people play each week at the Pirie St site, the only inner city beach volleyball centre in Australia.

It generates turnover of $300,000 a year for Volleyball SA, which pays a “very low” rent to the council, Mr Rumbelow said.

Up to 80 schools visit each year, while the centre also hosts dozens of corporate events and offers free or reduced rates for charity and church events.

The council had been “trying hard” to find another home for the game in the CBD, but to no avail.

“They’re very happy to help us relocate but they don’t know where,” he said.

“I don’t know there’s any site in the city area that would be vacant that they would put us in.

“I’m almost certain there’s nothing.”

Mr Rumbelow said council staff had indicated City Beach could stay open for at least another year if elected members approved a sale.

The council had thrown up ideas including a move to the parklands, with a shuttle bus to get city workers to lunchtime games, or moving to a rooftop space.

But Mr Rumbelow said each idea presented practical problems, being the time and hassle of a shuttle service and the risk of balls flying off rooftops and injuring people.

Losing City Beach revenue would likely mean cutting Volleyball SA staff from eight to four and putting development programs at risk, he said.

Mr Rumbelow has pitched the idea to the council of turning City Beach into a multi-level entertainment centre, with the volleyball courts left at ground level and possibly a running track, rock climbing wall, indoor basketball and squash courts, cinemas and restaurants built above.

But the council or another developer would have to take on the project as Volleyball SA lacked the money to make it happen, he said.

In coming years the council needs to find ways to fund projects including the $100 million redevelopment of Victoria Square and an overhaul of Rundle Mall expected to cost $30-60 million.

The council did not provide details about the estimated value of the City Beach site or its other commercial properties.

A spokeswoman said City Beach was being looked at as “part of council’s standard reviews of all its assets”.

Difference of opinion on site sale
COUNCILLORS are divided on the future of the city beach site.

Cr Anne Moran said it had been “one of those accidental successes” but the site had only ever been an investment for the council.

“There’s never been any intention of leaving it there in perpetuity for beach volleyball,” she said.

But Cr Moran said she was sure the council would not leave Volleyball SA “high and dry"and thought a shift to the parklands could work.

Cr Sandy Wilkinson said City Beach was “a bit of a waste of a development site” and suggested it might be possible to move it to the top of a building.

Cr Houssam Abiad said the council should not sell properties to fund particular projects such as Victoria Square.

Cr Abiad said if City Beach was closed, the council would be better off developing the site itself for a greater financial benefit than the one-off hit from a sale.

But the community benefit might justify retaining its current use by Volleyball SA, he said.

Cr Tony Williamson also said City Beach might be worth retaining because of the activity it brought to the city centre and a move to a city rooftop or the parklands were possibilities.

“Having it accessible is the most important thing, otherwise people won’t use it,” he said.

Cr Michael Henningsen said: “It’s not the right time to be selling things at the moment and I certainly wouldn’t support its sale at this stage.”

Lord Mayor Stephen Yarwood said the sale would ultimately be a decision for elected members, who would make sure “no stone had been left unturned” to find a way for volleyball to stay in town.

No sale proposal has yet been put to councillors.

“First and foremost I want beach volleyball to stay in the city,” Mr Yarwood said.

“But that’s a very valuable piece of land that we get a very small return on. We’re not a charity and we need to ensure our assets are performing for the benefit of all South Australians.”

Cr Anne Moran said it had been “one of those accidental successes” but the site had only ever been an investment for the council.

“There’s never been any intention of leaving it there in perpetuity for beach volleyball,” she said.

mgb wrote:Here's an idea, why not move city beach to Victoria Square?

Will wrote:If they are going to move city beach, it should be to a place that is easily accesible, such as Victoria Square. Moving it to the parklands is a bad idea, as they are too far away from where the action in the CBD is, and would make it too cumbersome for office workers to go to. In short moving it to the aprklands is a recipe for the slow death of city beach.

[Shuz] wrote:I think it'd be pretty cool to convert one of the 5 squares as the 'beach' square, with sand, palm trees and all. It would be quite an attraction methinks. Something out of the ordinary and unusual.

Will wrote:From the City Messenger:

Our new West End

Local News 8 Sep 11 @ 07:30am by Tim Williams









An artist's impression of redevelopments of Uni SA's City West campus.


UNISA’S city campuses will be transformed with a $300 million redevelopment.

The City Messenger can reveal the university’s plans for its City West campus include a new $145 million building on the Philip St carpark site, south of Hindley St, with lecture theatres, tutorial rooms and academic offices.

The new building will help accommodate the 5500 students transferring from the Magill campus when it closes as soon as 2016.

It will face the $95 million learning centre, to include a library, teaching space, offices, and a cafe, for which site works have already begun.

Construction of the two u-shaped buildings will create a plaza between them opening on to Hindley St.

Vice chancellor Professor Peter Hoj said the aim was to integrate the campuses with the city around them.

“As a uni we want to try and blur those boundaries between `here’s the uni’ and `here’s the city’,” he said.

“We would like those boundaries to be blurry so the city is part of us and we’re part of the city.”

UniSA is also preparing a $70 million masterplan for overhauling existing buildings and landscaping, possibly including converting the North Tce frontage of the City West campus into shopfronts and outdoor dining areas.

The plan includes turning George St, between North Tce and Hindley St, into a pedestrian-only oasis with trees, gardens and seating.

The green corridor will feed directly into the new plaza on the other side of Hindley St. At City East, the corner of North Tce and Frome Rd will be opened up with a new cafe and fencing removed.

The existing upper level cafeteria will be demolished to make way for a plaza area, with the new cafe beneath facing Frome Rd.

Landscaping work will be done at both campuses, with bitumen areas ripped up and replaced with paving, trees and gardens.

Prof Hoj said friendlier, more vibrant campuses were in the university’s economic interest as they would help to attract more students.

The learning centre is due to open in 2014.

The $145 million building could be ready within five years, but Prof Hoj said it might be delayed if the strong Australian dollar continued to impact on international student numbers.

jk1237 wrote:I notice an article in todays Advertiser about the state government concerned over how much car parking we have in the CBD, and calling upon the city council to reduce it as it goes against the state govt policy of encouraging PT use.

well, hoooooooooooooorrrrrrraaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyyyyy

if only something could have been done earlier in terms of stopping all the Franklin Street cages of crap being built. Im not sure if I believe the paper about Perth only have 10,000 parking spaces. I think they have a lot more than that

Nathan wrote:

jk1237 wrote:I notice an article in todays Advertiser about the state government concerned over how much car parking we have in the CBD, and calling upon the city council to reduce it as it goes against the state govt policy of encouraging PT use.

well, hoooooooooooooorrrrrrraaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyyyyy

if only something could have been done earlier in terms of stopping all the Franklin Street cages of crap being built. Im not sure if I believe the paper about Perth only have 10,000 parking spaces. I think they have a lot more than that

But wasn't it the State Government DAC that approved the Franklin St carpark, against the wishes of the council?

Reb-L wrote:Just a note about Adelaide's parking;
More spaces = lower fees = more customers in the CBD (everything else being equal) .
Until PT is frequent/safe enough to compete with private wheels cheap parking is necessary for the CBD to stand a chance against the free parks in the burbs.
Personally I don't have a prob with ugly carparks if they're hidden behind other development (office or residential). Suburban shopping centers surrounded by a sea of metal look worse in my eyes.