The future of the $8 million Whitsunday Sportspark Club House known as ‘Club Whitsunday’ is at a crossroads due to conflicting opinions within the eight different committees who operate the five different sports played at the public facility.
For the past eight years the Hospitality Club has been under planning and construction, with various extenuating circumstances responsible for several delays.
During this time the dedicated and hardworking committee, led by Chairman Justin Butler, have been resolute to complete the project and open Club Whitsunday for all the community to enjoy.
From the beginning, the plans have been to open a large bistro and bar area with TAB and gaming to provide a community owned, integrated offering like the commercial hotels and service the hundreds of people that come through the facility each week.
For the past two years, however, they have been waiting for a liquor licence which finally came through last month.
This means, the facility has now reached the stage where it can fulfill its original plan and become a fully functioning Club House with commercial kitchen, extensive dining areas, gaming room and a sports lounge.
To enable this to happen, however, Club Whitsunday will need to borrow additional funds and are currently liaising with a Specialty Hospitality Lender to arrange.
It is set to cost a further $3.5M to fit out the facility, which was always part of the plan.
There are, however, some additional costs that have accumulated over the years.
Since the facility’s completion, $4000 a month has been accrued in ‘holding fees’ which are largely from insurance and electricity, despite the Club not operating and having no money coming in.
This, coupled with the usual building cost overruns means a further $1.5M will need to be borrowed.
This means they will need a total of $5M.
At this current stage the Sportspark Club House committee have very limited money in the bank and are calling for the Whitsunday Regional Council to help if they can.
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