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But Potaris has argued the charity was doing too much outside its core mission of supporting disaffected kids.
He revealed plans last month to change the charity’s name to “Victoria PCYC” as part of a strategy he argued would help more vulnerable youths.
NSW PCYC is made up of 66 individual clubs that support thousands of young people, but St Kilda PCYC has long been the only such club in Victoria.
“The funds from this sale will be invested in our new, longer-term strategy of building Victoria PCYC into a powerful, statewide organisation,” Potaris said when announcing the Inkerman Street gym closure.
But many locals remain critical of this plan.
“There’s no clarity about where those funds would go,” Gibson said. “There’s no indication that they would replace this facility in this community.”
Local MP Josh Burns at the PCYC community gym in St Kilda.Credit: Joe Armao
Josh Burns said: “Selling this facility with only a month’s notice, in pursuit of a vague statewide body with no premises or programs, severs PCYC’s only real community ties in Victoria.”
In response to the outcry, Potaris issued a further memo on Wednesday that criticised state and local government support for older members as “unacceptable” but argued the charity needed to stop programs for seniors and refocus on youth.
Potaris thanked gym members for offering to raise funds, but concluded it was not enough.
“Unfortunately, these types of interventions would only serve as band-aid solutions and not address the core issue that our business model is manifestly flawed and has almost resulted in our permanent closure,” he said.
St Kilda PCYC’s last public report, for the 2023/24 financial year, showed fundraising income had almost halved compared to a year prior, while the charity’s programs and now-defunct social enterprise cafe operated at a loss.
Writing off $821,204 in building construction costs after renovations were completed also hurt the charity’s bottom line.
However, Burns said support was available to St Kilda PCYC and believed it was disingenuous for the charity to suggest all avenues to boost funding had been exhausted.
Burns said his office “stood ready” to help keep a boxing program for people with Parkinson’s disease in particular, although St Kilda PCYC said they still had funding to operate this until mid-2026.
Gibson said, “there had never been a tin-rattle” before the gym closure was announced.
Boxing Legend Barry Michael (centre) at St Kilda PCYC’s gym in 2008 as he promoted a fight between Samuel Colomban (left) and Lance Gostelow (right).Credit: Rodger Cummins
“To say that it doesn’t serve the community and its objectives is outrageous,” he added. “It’s staffed by youth, it’s used by youth.”
Port Phillip Mayor Louise Crawford said the council had met with St Kilda PCYC several times recently.
“The PCYC approached us to buy the building, provide a large section back to them at peppercorn rent, and take on the financial liability for maintenance and renewal,” Crawford said.
“Even if we had the financial resources to do that without impacting other community priorities, we believe from the information the PCYC provided to us, it was still proposing to close the gymnasium, exit non-youth programs and become the Victorian PCYC.”
The mayor added: “We were not formally asked to run some of PCYC’s programs, including the gym (which we don’t have expertise in).”
In another statement on Friday, St Kilda PCYC made a last-ditch appeal to the Victorian government for funding, a plea which was not included in earlier statements about their gym sale.
“Our foundational purpose is to serve as a youth charity, but for years, we have been funding non-youth-related community programs with no support from the state government,” St Kilda PCYC president Anne Burgen said.
A state government spokesperson said they had not received any formal funding proposal from St Kilda PCYC and the decision to close the Inkerman Street gym was a matter for them.
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