Work Wraps Up on St Kilda’s Danny Frawley Centre

Work has completed on a Melboourne football club’s new centre to deliver mental health services to the club and the community. 

The Danny Frawley Centre at the St Kilda football club at the RSEA Park in Moorabbin Reserve was built in honour of the late footballer.

Frawley was a football player, coach, administrator, commentator and media personality.

He played 240 games for the St Kilda Football Club from 1984 to 1995, captaining the club for nine seasons, and won All-Australian selection and the St Kilda best and fairest award in 1988. He also had a successful media career after his playing career. Tragically, Frawley died in a single-vehicle accident in 2019.

Building on his passion for mental health, the centre will provide facilities to assist club team training and recovery, and will be available also to the community.

The centre is just part of upgrades and new work at the St Kilda grounds.

The Victorian government provided $13 million in funding to previous stages of the park redevelopment.

These stages included upgrades to training facilities, addition of women's changing rooms and administration facilities, and a new AFWL grandstand and pool. 

The Victorian government provided $7.3 million in funding for the final stages and $13 million for the previous stages.

Elsewhere in St Kilda, the St Kilda South Medical Centre and Day Hospital at 37 Mitford Street, Elwood has been listed.

The medical centre has operated for 35 years and is on the market with two new five-year leases and three further five-year options for the medical centre and day hospital.

The centre, on the corner of Mitford and Dickens streets, returns $385,455 per year, according to marketing agents JLL.

Federal government funding of $8.5 million was provided for the final stage which includes consulting suites, mindfulness rooms and a gym.

▲ The new AFWL grandstand for the St Kilda Football Club was completed in a previous stage of the project.

In recent months the JLL team has transacted a number of healthcare assets, selling assets in Prahran, Wantirna, Sydenham and Spotswood. These centres transacted at an average yield of 5.30 per cent, with price points
ranging from $4 million to $10 million, according to JLL.

An expressions-of-interest campaign is due to close at 2pm on June 2. JLL’s Healthcare and Life Sciences, senior executives Mark Stafford, Nick Peden, Simon Quinn and Ming Xuan Li managing the sale.

St Kilda,  6km south-east of the CBD, is rarely out of the news.

In March, Gurner Group chief executive Tim Gurner and his wife Aimee announced they were selling their private residence in the suburb.

Part of Gurner’s own Saint Moritz project, the couple’s home is a 500sq m luxury two-storey, four-bedroom “wellness” residence. 

Also that month, a developer headed by the founder of AirTrunk data centres submitted plans for a four-storey mixed-use block with the City of Port Phillip council.

FSST, headed by Robin Khuda, the founder and chief of the hyperscale data centre operator, plans to project for a 1603sq m site at 3-5, 7, 9 and 15 Fitzroy Street, St Kilda.

And in January,  boutique property developer Fortis lodged plans for a $25-million shoptop development at St Kilda.

The planning application before the Port Phillip City Council seeks a five-storey mixed-use building on an amalgamated 2660sq m site at 61A-73 Fitzroy Street, St Kilda.