@mike said in [Revealed: Secret bid to buy battling Tigers](/post/1350444) said:
@jirskyr said in [Revealed: Secret bid to buy battling Tigers](/post/1350423) said:
@mike said in [Revealed: Secret bid to buy battling Tigers](/post/1350055) said:
@avocadoontoast said in [Revealed: Secret bid to buy battling Tigers](/post/1350052) said:
If it gets rid of our board I’m all for it
Have you seen the disaster that is on Victoria Road and has been for years? You wouldn't want Elias having control of anything to do with Wests Tigers.
That's not Benny, that one is solely on the NSW Labor Govt. They negotiated to get the Tigers out for the Rozelle Metro, pulled the plug on the Metro (BTW they spent $0.5B on the Metro before canning it), then declined all of the development proposals that were made for the premises. It's understandable that Balmain (and subsequent owners) would try to maximise usage of the site, I'm not going to criticise anyone for that, and Benny's consortium only came in when the club was already breathing its last breath; it only prolonged the inevitable.
Balmain withered on the vine, you could not have killed the Leagues Club off more elegantly if you had tried.
Disagree. The problem was the plans put forward on a number of occasions were not appropriate for the area and were never going to be approved, and rightfully so. Benny tried to capitalise on those failures and basically screwed Balmain in the process.
Partially true.
I knew someone who worked on developments for Leichhardt Council and I also know someone who was working on the Rozelle Light Rail.
It's an absolute fact that Balmain left the Leagues Club premises under assurances from the NSW Labor Govt that they would get approval for a development on the site once the rail link was done, with a Rozelle station at or near the club ("under the club" if I recall). The Labor Govt eventually abandoned the light rail plans, then they were voted out for the Libs.
The Leagues Club then attempted a series of applications to demolish the vacant club and build a combo residential/club building, because they were already leaking money by having a vacant lot. The Govt was no longer involved with the applications, so they all ended up back at Leichhardt Council, who are notorious bastards for approving developments (I'm not saying whether that's right or wrong, just saying they were bastards to get things through).
Rozelle reknowned also for it's NIMBYism. Of course Tigers would try to maximise their gains from a new premises. It's exactly what Cronulla have done recently with their development approval. You make a heap of capital selling units on top of a retail/commercial facility.
Whether or not the applications were pushing the boundary of what's acceptable from a Town Planning capacity, I cannot say - I haven't the expertise. It would be false for most lay folks to claim they have expertise about what's best for town planning, or what is appropriate for development applications of this scale.
What I can say is
(1) the "Rozelle Village" in that area (Darling St and Vic Rd) is run-down in 2021, and I'm talking the other non-club businesses. The last 20 years have not been good for that part of Darling St, and all the capital and the spending has gone down to the Balmain end. It does need a re-vamp.
(2) Victoria Rd is a big busy street, and anyone who is claiming "village" heritage hasn't been paying attention to the use of that artery the past 40 years. There's a very compelling reason why business picks up dramatically once you get away from Vic Rd and down into the Balmain peninsula.
(3) NSW Liberals putting a lot of roadways under Rozelle now, with tunnel entrances about the area, which should surely have some impact now on traffic flow and volume, which was one of the primary complaints of having a significant number of potential residents at a new Balmain Leagues Club
(4) Leichhardt Council happily blocking tall development proposals with comments about aeroplane heights and whatnot, but Balmain Shores and the other post-power station mega developments went through OK in the late 80s - early 90s? Who exactly was paid off or did a deal to allow that to happen, if volume of people is the issue?
(5) at one stage applications for the Leagues Cub were able to bypass LC and go straight to NSW State planning commission, or whatever it is called. I don't know the ins-and-outs of those applications, because as I said the person I knew worked for LC and didn't know the exact details of how the Govt department were assessing. I recall, about this time, is when Balmain were getting into serious financial trouble, having to wait out these council and then State Govt delays with minimal revenues.
(6) Rozelle and Balmain are very close to the city. I think it's unrealistic to expect or hope that in a city of 5M people, that suburbs within 10 mins drive of the CBD aren't going to have to shoulder some of the burden of population density. Unrealistic. Look at Pyrmont, heavily populated now, but they've done a reasonably good job of it, and I drive around there every week, the traffic is fine, there are also thriving local businesses, pubs, cafes etc. Light rail connection, they are even now getting a metro station.