Perth’s biggest site in a decade could be $1b base for A-League team
Perth Glory owner Ross Pelligra is in talks with an inner-ring Perth council about using the city’s biggest development site in a decade, which includes a former municipal rubbish tip, as the base for a $1 billion new training ground mixed-use development to support the struggling A-League team.
Pelligra, who acquired 13th-ranked Perth Glory after they fell into receivership in 2023, confirmed he has been in talks with the City of Stirling to use the 10-hectare property, once a landfill site alongside the Mitchell Freeway, but said it was not the only property in consideration.
“There’s a number of sites we’re narrowing down,” he told The Australian Financial Review. “We’re trying to work out which are going to be sites we can start on immediately.”
The property between the Mitchell Freeway and the city’s administration centre on Cedric Street needs remediation – the city is conducting a detailed study to determine the extent of contamination and stability of the ground.
But if viable, the 10-hectare property offers the West Australian city its largest potential development site since Golden Group acquired 38 hectares surrounding Belmont Park Racecourse in 2013 from the WA Turf Club, now known as Perth Racing, where it is now marketing the first stage of a 4500-unit development.
“This site represents a rare opportunity for infill development on a site of over 10 hectares,” said David Cresp, the WA housing lead for consultancy Urbis.
“Very rarely do we see this sort of development opportunity of this scale on a site that is close to a train station and only eight kilometres out from the CBD anywhere in Australia.”
The site’s proximity to existing facilities including the Westfield Innaloo Shopping Centre means it could support a wide variety of development types, Cresp said.
Stirling Mayor Mark Irwin said once the technical study was completed later this year, the city would enter a market sounding process to gauge interest in the site.
“These technical studies are a key part of that and will guide the future remediation and improvement of the site,” he said.
“Once we have completed that process, which is a significant investment for the city, we will look to attract government funding to help bring the site to market and support development.”
The site, also six kilometres from Scarborough Beach would, with the adjoining Herdsman-Glendalough area, form the second-biggest activity centre in Perth, Stirling council said.
The city said “high-profile sporting clubs” – which it said included Perth Glory – and developers had shown interested in establishing facilities on the site.
“It’s unusual to have so much vacant land in such a central location with the Perth skyline in the background, so it’s not surprising that we’ve had organisations reaching out to us,” Irwin said. “The possibilities for this site are really exciting.”
But it will take time. The city said it would only make a decision on the future of the site after developing a remediation action plan.
Pelligra wants to start construction next year on the planned project, which will complement – and not replace – the club’s home competition ground at HBF Park.
“There’s an opportunity to do something there [at the Stirling site], but the biggest issue I’ve got is time,” he said. “If we don’t start now, if we don’t start putting kids on the ground, if we don’t find the right training facilities, the team’s not going to perform, and we’re going to lose talent.”
A Stirling city spokesperson said the timeline was flexible.
“There are several key steps that must occur before development of this site, but the timeline is not set in stone, and the city’s aim is to progress through these steps as quickly as possible,” they said.
“The market sounding process later this year will gauge the level of interest in developing the site and gather information on potential project options, challenges and more.”
High connectivity
With access to the arterial Mitchell Freeway that connects the city with Perth’s fast-growing northern suburbs, and an existing train station, the location offers a level of public transport infrastructure crucial for moving large numbers of fans.
It’s a level of connectivity that Pelligra’s Western United Football Club counterpart, Jason Sourasis, has been trying to secure – so far unsuccessfully – to ensure the commercial and residential development of a 62-hectare site to support the finances of his club in western Melbourne’s Tarneit.
Those property plans may be easier to realise now, after WUFC said it had reached a deal for US-based property investor Maciek Kaminski to take majority ownership of the A-League team in a reported $100 million deal.
Perth development plans have run aground on technical issues before. Three years ago Lendlease walked away after 11 years from a planned development on a six-hectare site of reclaimed land along the Swan River, citing problems with the sandy site.
The $1 billion Waterbank project, for which the developer beat out rival bids from Frasers and Multiplex to win, was slated to have as many as 720 apartments in towers up to 42 storeys and deliver 81,000 square metres of new commercial and retail space.
