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Tenants at the Centenary Pool Complex will be compensated for having to relocate during construction for Brisbane 2032, but will have to negotiate themselves with the group contracted by the city council to manage the venue.
Details of the process have yet to be communicated to Nick Kotsomitis, from NK Orthodontist, and physiotherapist Tom Barton, from The Health Collab, who operate their businesses out of the existing centre.
As this masthead revealed two weeks ago, Brisbane City Council will hand over the Centenary Pool Complex to the Games Independent Infrastructure and Co-ordination Authority on September 1.
Design renders for the new National Aquatic Centre were then unveiled on Wednesday evening.
Deputy Premier Jarrod Bleijie confirmed on Wednesday that affected tenants would be compensated, but said when and how much was a matter for council.
“Through GIICA, we have displacement funding available,” he said.
“Any of the businesses that are displaced, I’d expect they would be compensated just like we compensated business owners who ran the Victoria Park hospitality venue. That would be a normal course of leasing arrangements.”
Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner told ABC Radio on Thursday that tenants should negotiate with City Venue Management, and said council’s conversations with the management group had been under way for some time.
Kotsomitis and Barton told this masthead they had not been offered compensation, and have still not received official confirmation of their eviction date.
The other remaining tenants – Rackley Swimming, City Aquatics and City Health Clubs – are associated brands of City Venue Management.
The orthodontist and physiotherapist were concerned that amendments to Olympic infrastructure legislation passed earlier this year would leave them without compensation.
A letter from Brisbane City Council lawyers to NK Orthodontist, sent a week ago and seen by this masthead, referred to this legislation, suggesting that no compensation would be paid.
A council spokesperson would not comment on the compensation provided to the Victoria Park Golf Course, but said the council itself has not been compensated for handing over the asset.
Greens Councillor Seal Chong Wah criticised the way the matter had been handled.
She contrasted it with the treatment of local all-boys private school St Joseph’s Gregory Terrace, which was set to lose access to sports facilities during construction, but would be allowed to use a Spring Hill park instead.
“Council entered negotiations for the school to take over Bedford Park, without any consultation with the local community,” Chong Wah said.
GIICA, Brisbane City Council and City Venue Management were contacted for further comment, and did not respond in time for publication.
Maiwar Greens MP Michael Berkman – who wrote to Deputy Premier Jarrod Bleijie and then-acting Olympics Minister Andrew Powell on June 26, urging them to compensate tenants at the complex – said on Wednesday evening he was glad tenants would receive some compensation.
“Any reasonable person could see that compensating the people they’re evicting is the right thing to do,” he said.
“The LNP were so intent on bulldozing their way through anyone standing in the way of their pet stadium project, they ignored a small business operator who is literally helping elite athletes prepare for the Olympics.
“This is a small but important victory for Brisbane locals, but it doesn’t make up for the damage this stadium will do to our First Nations heritage, or the loss of our inner-city parkland.”
GIICA chief executive Simon Crooks said on Thursday four building companies had submitted tenders to build the centre, and tenders would close at the end of the month.
Crooks said the project validation report for the pool complex would be done towards the end of the year.
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Matt Dennien is a reporter at Brisbane Times covering state politics, parliament and the public sector. He has previously worked for newspapers in Tasmania and Brisbane community radio station 4ZZZ. Contact him securely on Signal @mattdennien.15Connect via email.From our partners
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