Not another false dawn - Sharks seal lifeline deal
CHRIS BARRETT
05 Nov, 2010 02:30 AM
AFTER an interminable wait, the landmark property deal Cronulla believe will transform them from also-rans to genuine NRL contenders has arrived.
The Sharks will be paid an upfront amount of $2 million, a long-term annuity of more than $1m and another undisclosed lump sum after agreeing, provisionally, to link with a development consortium and move ahead with the long-planned residential and retail project next to Cronulla-Sutherland Leagues Club. The development, which has been in the pipeline for more than a decade, appears ready to progress, after the Cronulla board selected a consortium made up of the firms Bluestone Property Solutions, Parkview and financier Capital Corporation as partners to develop the 10-hectare site adjacent to Toyota Stadium. It is expected to cost more than $120m and take five to seven years to complete.
The partnership is pending the approval of Sharks members but would absolve the $12m debt tied up at the club, Sharks chairman Damian Irvine said. ''The members have had a lot of false dawns so this is a significant step,'' Irvine said. ''I said at the start of the year our plan was to be a leader in three years' time, and that's where I think we're going to be by 2013.''
Under the proposed agreement, the Sharks would retain ownership of the land, to be developed into mixed-use retail and residential dwellings, and be paid rent - totalling more than $1m a year - by the consortium. A $2m payment will be an immediate and welcome addition to the stretched Cronulla cash flow, while another major lump sum would be deposited on completion of the project.
A potential amalgamation with another club - the leading contender is Gymea's Tradies - is still being considered by the Cronulla board and could be put to members. Irvine and Sharks officials met NRL chief executive David Gallop last week to discuss their financial status, and Cronulla said it expected the football club to be breaking even by 2012.
Cronulla will attempt that as the only team in the NRL without a chief executive. It is understood the club has called off its search for a replacement for Richard Fisk, and the role will be shared by general manager of football Darren Mooney and Peter Beaumont, who oversees the commercial and sponsorship division.
The development consortium is led by Bluestone managing director Ben Fairfax, a former executive with Walker Corporation, and is likely to submit a new master plan to the Department of Planning.
