A local council has increased the annual rent of a bowling club by a staggering $59,900, raising fears the venue could be forced to close.
The Fitzroy Victoria Bowling & Sports Club on Brunswick Street in Fitzroy North, Melbourne, had previously been subject to a “small-scale” agreement with Yarra City Council for 21 years.
A lease in kind is when the payments do not reflect the fair value of the property being leased.
Until now, the blowing club paid only $100 a year.
The club operates by leasing Crown land from the council and recently signed a new lease with them. Herald of the Sun reported.
The club, which is next to Edinburgh Gardens, entered into negotiations with the council and decided the venue should pay $60,000 in rent each year.
There are now fears the bowling club will struggle to meet the sky-high rent payments, with one senior official saying the new cost is “unbelievable” and “absurd”.
The official said the club would have been fine with $20,000, but $60,000 was a large amount that the facility was not prepared for.
The 21-year agreement between Yarra City Council and Fitzroy Victoria Bowling & Sports Club (pictured, bowling club) recently expired.
“So far the club has made a profit,” they said.
But the official said the club had made a “significant” loss last financial year, which would be reported to members at the next AGM.
The venue was created after the merger of two of the country’s oldest lawn bowls clubs: Victoria, established in 1876, and North Fitzroy/Fitzroy, founded in 1877.
The Fitzroy Victoria Bowling & Sports Club was established in 2001, the year in which the agreement was signed.
The club’s website notes that it is one of the “most proactive and community-focused clubs” in the country.
A Yarra Council spokeswoman told the publication the new negotiated lease agreement was compared to other “similar hospitality venues in the area and the club’s for-profit operations”.
The council is also understood to have assessed the club’s roof, which could be repaired, and will use some of the rent money to do so.
The announcement of the high rent for the bowling club is a blow to the area, which is still awaiting the redevelopment of Brunswick Street Oval (pictured)
Independent Yarra councillor Stephen Jolly said the new rent cost was “unbelievable” and an “impossible course of action”.
“We should support sports clubs, not push them to the limit,” he said.
The bowling club is located next to Brunswick Street Oval, the redevelopment of which has reportedly been halted by the council.
Yarra City Council has received more than $12 million over a six-year period to create a permanent base for Fitzroy Junior FC, Fitzroy Football Club and Edinburgh Cricket Club at the Oval.
Daily Mail Australia has contacted Yarra City Council and Fitzroy Victoria Bowling & Sports Club for comment.