After the closure of 31 of the state's RSL clubs in the past decade, five Sydney clubs have done deals with developers to build apartments, offices, shops and even aged care accommodation; usually with a smaller club thrown in as part of the deal.

Don Rowe, the president of RSL NSW, said clubs were diversifying but remaining within the spirit and traditions of the league. Yet the opening up of these strategically located sites is a boon for developers but a concern for neighbours.

 
"Quite a few of these clubs are asset rich but they're trading poorly," says Bob Maddison, who is overseeing the redevelopment of the Redfern RSL. "That's the driver behind them; getting in and turning something around. The big clubs are going OK but the little ones are dying.''

The Redfern RSL was a featureless brown box fronting a busy road near the station, but work has started on a $28 million project to turn it into an 18-storey residential tower, with shops, offices and a small club.

And there are plans to replace Marrickville RSL with a $36 million, five- to seven-storey development of 180 apartments and shops. Newtown RSL will be converted into a boutique hotel and a small club after failing to turn a profit as a nightspot.

Dee Why RSL, seen as an innovator in clubland, is building a 76-apartment retirement village nearby. And the struggling Bronte RSL, the Herald revealed last month, is to be sold to a private developer with plans to build a new club and a multi-storey aged-care facility.

Redfern RSL was sold to the developer, but the club retains ownership of the second floor strata on completion. Newtown RSL plans to act simply as landlord to the hotel business. The booming Dee Why RSL is the exception, owning and operating the retirement village.

"We tried to align the new interests with the original charter,'' said Grant Easterby, CEO of Dee Why RSL. ''The cheapest, maximum profit for us would be to whack up units and move on, but as a registered club that's not what we do."

Members are not always happy about clubs changing, nor are existing residents who see the club as a community facility rather than an opportunity for developer profit.

"No one objects to the provision of genuine aged-care facilities but this should not be at the expense of existing residents,'' said Peter Frank, a Bronte resident. ''On the face of it, this is a gross betrayal of a neighbourhood which has for decades loyally supported this institution."

Yet Simon Paterson from the Bronte RSL Sub-branch said the redevelopment would be a win for all. "The community definitely needs aged care. It should be a win-win all round," he said.

In a city with a housing shortage, RSL redevelopments could be ''a very good idea," said Associate Professor Michael Bounds from the Urban Research Centre at the University of Western Sydney.

"Club sites are located in prime spaces close to shopping centres and public transport so it really makes a lot of sense if you can redevelop them with mixed functions,'' he said.

''If it enables the clubs to survive as well that's really a bonus.''

Source: www.smh.com.au/nsw/jackpot-struggling-clubs-find-an-ace-up-their-sleeves-20100516-v6fh.html