Construction of Tasmania JackJumpers’ high performance basketball centre held up over red tape
Tasmania’s championship-winning basketball team says it’s open to a re-location of its planned new high-performance facility, as a three-way tug of war over construction intensifies.
The Tasmanian government, who are footing the bill for the build, Glenorchy City Council and JackJumpers basketball team owner Larry Kestelman continue to wrangle over the promised $50 million indoor, multi-sport facility build at Wilkinsons Point in Hobart’s northern suburbs.
Build conditions placed on the development application by the council are the source of the frustrations, with the back-and-forth delaying a start in construction, leaving the JackJumpers without a home base.
The red-tape delay has prompted the team to consider a permanent relocation to Kingborough, where it currently trains.
The team’s current arrangement at the Kingborough Sports Centre, 18 kilometres south of Hobart, sees them pay court hire fees and share the use of the facility with local pickleball and futsal teams.
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Centre ‘absolutely freezing’ in winter
JackJumpers CEO Christine Finnegan told the ABC the existing arrangements were not ideal.
“The facilities aren’t up to professional standards, and I don’t think we’d expect any of our other professional teams to train in facilities that one, they don’t own; and two, that aren’t at the standard our competitors have,” she said.
“The facility in winter is absolutely freezing and I think for a team that is competing with others in professional environments, it puts us on the back foot”.
“We have just won our first NBL trophy for the state of Tasmania and we currently don’t have a place to house it”.
Anywhere better than nowhere
The development application for the new indoor multi-sport facility was lodged to the Glenorchy City Council in June last year.
At the centre of the dispute between the government and council are the details of the car park construction, upgrades to the access road and landscaping requirements.
The council amendments to the development application are believed to have added costs to the build that the government has baulked at.
“To be frank, having the facility, wherever it is, is more important than not having one at the moment,” Ms Finnegan said.
“If it did turn out to be Kingston, our players are already there, so if it was something the government was considering it’s something we wouldn’t oppose.
“If there is a smoother process elsewhere, we are right behind that and we would certainly be supportive of that.”
Mr Kestelman has hinted recently that he was open to a location shift of the facility if the government and council could not come to a resolution.
“We would welcome any discussion about the location of the facility,” he said.
“We note that the team currently trains in Kingston and many of the players and staff already live in the area.”
Wilkinsons Point development impacted
Mr Kestelman has previously said delays with the high-performance facility would also stifle progression on the adjacent $150m mixed-use development at Wilkinsons Point, which was part of the government’s deal to secure the JackJumpers NBL license.
In October 2022, the government committed $15m toward the high-performance facility, in addition an existing $35m towards a community indoor multi-sport facility at Wilkinsons Point in Glenorchy, next door to the JackJumpers home arena.
The build had an estimated 18-month construction time. The two projects are now set to be morphed into one.
The training facilities will include additional court facilities, gymnasium, physio and recovery areas, medical and rehabilitation facilities and players’ change rooms, kitchen and lounge facilities as well as meeting facilities.
The council has allocated $2.4m towards the upgrade of the access road, as part of its 2020 deal to sell the Derwent Entertainment Centre to the state government.
In a statement, a government spokesperson said they would “continue to have discussions with the basketball community”.
The spokesperson said the government was “absolutely committed to basketball in the northern suburbs” amid speculation it might spike the project in favour of a new Kingborough location.
It is understand there are no plans currently underway to shift the location of the facility.
Concerns for player recruitment
JackJumpers coach Scott Roth said the delay has begun to impact player recruitment.
He emphasised to Ms Finnegan that it was something he wanted sorted before returning from a trip to the US.
“We’re not bringing players into market to show them our facilities at the moment, because we don’t have one,” Ms Finnegan said.
“Our conversation starts and stops with the program we’ve developed internally, but you can only rely on that for so long before players say, well what does that look like when we get there?”
Local basketball clubs have also expressed dismay as the sport outgrow existing facilities.
Glenorchy basketball association president Kate Clark told ABC Breakfast that the community courts were desperately needed.
“Basketball does not have a home in general. We have to share our courts. We had to move games at Kingston because there was a science fair on. We don’t have a home where we can prioritise the needs of the sport” she said.
It’s understood a meeting took place on Tuesday between Basketball Tasmania chief executive Ben Smith and government representatives.
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