The vision was a $300m ‘world-class destination’. But something’s missing from the plans

2 weeks ago 3

A new entertainment precinct for the Parramatta Leagues Club site is a step closer to reality after new plans were lodged in a development application – but the club has omitted some key elements of its original vision for the site.

The proposed Parramatta Live redevelopment to turn the 70-year-old club and surrounding area into a $300 million “world-class destination” for sport and entertainment was announced in December 2024.

Detailed artists’ impressions revealed a vision to build a new clubhouse, health and leisure centre, hotel with a swimming pool, two buildings with 100 apartments where “the Bronx” unit block now stands, youth hub, food and drink venues and live site, which would be developed in three stages.

But in the development application lodged last week, there was only mention of two stages: building the new four-storey clubhouse in stage one, followed by the demolition of the clubhouse and the construction of food premises and the two-storey health and leisure centre in stage 2a, and construction of the hotel in stage 2b. There was no mention of the apartments or live site.

That’s because the land where the live site was proposed to be built is owned by Venues NSW, a government agency that manages a portfolio of sports and entertainment venues, including CommBank Stadium. The space between the stadium and the club has been fenced off for years.

Parramatta Leagues Club president Mark Jenkins said they were engaging with a “number of people” to potentially turn the space into a live site along with more food and drink options, but the plans have not been locked in.

The fenced-off land between CommBank Stadium and Parramatta Leagues Club.

“We’ve spoken to Venues NSW at this stage in relation to what our masterplan thoughts are,” he said.

“We’re hoping to engage with them going forward, in relation to whether there is any interest from them in partnering with us around that particular part of the development or part of the masterplan.”

As for the missing apartments, Jenkins said they could be a possible stage three or four, but this required further investigation.

“We would need to do a lot of work in relation to how that may operate and how that may look and whether that’s of any great benefit to our members going forward, but it was part of the overall masterplan that we spoke about in December,” he said.

The heritage-listed Ross Street Gatehouse, which Jenkins said is owned by Sydney Parklands, is also absent from the development application despite it being envisioned as a cafe and mini museum in December. Jenkins maintains that the historic building, which the proposed hotel would be built next to, is integral to the development and that the club’s representatives are “very keen” to continue discussions with the owners to make sure it’s included in the masterplan in the future.

Jenkins believes the major redevelopment of the leagues club will be of huge benefit for the greater western Sydney community and is vital for a club that is “getting towards the end of its life”.

“It is a critical development, as far as we’re concerned, for the precinct in and around CommBank Stadium.

“We believe that the precinct that we’re going to be able to develop is not only going to be beneficial to our members, but will be beneficial to all of those people that visit CommBank Stadium for whatever reason.”

The $215 million development, to be determined by the Sydney Central City Planning Panel, is expected to generate up to 1369 jobs during construction and support 729 ongoing positions.

It’s not the first time the club has sought to redevelop the site. In 2018, a state-significant development application was lodged to construct a 17-storey hotel, but after feedback the scale of the building was reduced to 15 storeys before the plans were ultimately withdrawn. In the current development application, the proposed hotel would reach up to eight storeys, which Jenkins said would bring it in line with the height of CommBank Stadium.