$40 million "Centre of Excellence" approved

The approval for a $40 million sporting complex, hotel, licensed club and commercial facilities will be on a 16 hectare site that was formerly known as ‘Club Tuggerah’ and owned by the Wyong RSL Club.

Earlier, an Extraordinary General Meeting of members of the Wyong RSL Club unanimously agreed to sell the entire assets of the Club Tuggerah site to the Mariners.

In return, the Mariners have agreed to a lease and management agreement with Wyong RSL, which will see the licensed club leased back to the RSL. This will include a function facility to take up to 400 people.

Central Coast Mariners FC Executive Chairman, Lyall Gorman said that finalisation of plans for the refurbishment of the Club should be completed in the near future with works completed in the first half of 2010.

“We expect field works to start in March and we will be calling tenders for building works in June with tenders to close on 31 August 2010,” Mr Gorman said.

Facilities will include:
• 3,000 seat stadium to be the home of the Mariners' National Youth League and W-League teams;
• Seven full-sized training pitches;
• 120-room hotel and accommodation block;
• A six-storey, 8000sqm office complex;
• Sports science facility that will include an indoor gym, 25m pool and hydrotherapy facilities; and
• Ten multi-purpose courts.

The funds for the development, which will be constructed in several stages with a 2014 completion date, will be sourced from one of the big four banks.

Chairman of the Mariners FC Trust, Peter Turnbull said that no taxpayer-funded money would be going into this project.  “As a developer I know you don’t get finance from a major lender these days on spec. What is pleasing is that we have the backing of the whole community from the local Wyong Shire Council, Wyong RSL and the broader Central Coast community to make this project a reality.”

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