City Beach to Urban Beach

17 February 2022

In August 2021 the City of Adelaide commenced an Expression of Interest (EOI) process for the sale and redevelopment of the 211 Pirie Street land as occupied by the City Beach volleyball facility. The EOI release followed the formal revocation of the land from its community land status.

The EOI sought innovative development proposals for the land to further strengthen the future of Pirie Street and the city’s vibrant east. Proposals which enabled early and accelerated development were also encouraged in order to realise the benefits from site redevelopment.

The City of Adelaide has continued to work through the above process to secure a transformational redevelopment of the land. In this regard, the City of Adelaide can announce that NEXTDC Limited, Australia’s leading data centre provider, has been secured as the purchaser and developer of the 211 Pirie Street land.

NEXTDC will construct a new world class data centre facility and technology centre of excellence on the 211 Pirie Street land. This will expand on NEXTDC’s national network of world class data centres supporting the growing needs of the state’s digital economy.

The data centre represents a significant city investment which will support the state’s key industries and enable leading technology companies investing in South Australia.

The City of Adelaide will work with Volleyball SA regarding the timeframe associated with its end of lease date and vacation from the 211 Pirie Street land. This will have regard to the current volleyball season and NEXTDC’s development timeframes.

Volleyball SA General Manager, Karla Della Pietra, is supportive of the the tech development and the opportunity it provides for the people of South Australia and is looking forward to working with the City of Adelaide and NEXTDC.

In addition to the above, it is Council’s desire that a beach volleyball facility remain within the City of Adelaide to serve a broad cross section of the community for social, sport and recreational purposes.

Council has approved the repurposing of a section of the former netball courts in Bonython Park/Tulya Wardli (Park 27) for a new beach volleyball facility as part of a proposed activity hub. This approval is subject to Volleyball SA receiving sufficient funding to complete the project.

“We have a vision for an exciting and inclusive Urban Beach Hub in the parklands, which will give the community more opportunities to get healthy and active in a central location.” Karla said. “The City of Adelaide has supported Volleyball SA from the very early stages in finding a new site for our much-loved beach volleyball facility, and we look forward to working with the council as we develop our new, multi-use site.”

The City of Adelaide will continue to work with Volleyball SA to support their efforts to secure funding for a new volleyball facility within Bonython Park/Tulya Wardli (Park 27). A relocation of this nature will support Council’s Strategic Plan action to ‘leverage the Adelaide Park Lands to promote health, wellbeing and lifestyle experiences’.