AFL’s Hawthorn announces sale of Waverley Park home

Hawthorn Football Club has announced that its Waverley Park home in Melbourne’s east is up for sale, with an asking price of $20 million.

With the AFL club set to move to its new headquarters at the Kennedy Community Centre in Dingley later this year, the venue will officially be on the market from Tuesday 25th February.

Waverley Park, which once boasted a 72,000-seat capacity, has played a major role in Hawthorn’s history. It hosted 732 AFL/VFL games including the 1991 AFL Grand Final, as well as cricket and concerts, but was often criticised for its location and lack of public transport.

Staging its last official AFL game in 1999, it was transformed into an elite training and administration facility for the Hawks, with the major part of its surrounding grandstands and adjacent areas redeveloped for housing.

Listed by Colliers, the sale includes the training and administrative hub within the heritage-listed Sir Kenneth Luke Stand which overlooks the oval and an adjoining Goodlife Gym which generates $600,000 in annual rental income.

It does not include the sporting oval itself.

The City of Monash has previously confirmed the oval is part of the Victorian Government’s master planning for the Waverley Park Estate and is expected to remain as a sports oval once the Hawks exit the venue.

Commenting on the sale, Hawthorn Chief Operating Officer Jacob Attwood stated “Waverley Park has been a great home for our football club and has served the club very well.

“As the club prepares for our imminent relocation to our new facility at Dingley, it is the right time to explore what the future for the current training and administration facility looks like.”

Once the Hawks move into their $100 million Kennedy Community Centre they will become the only AFL club to own its training and administration headquarters.

Colliers is inviting submissions up until Thursday 3rd April.

Images: Waverley Park with its surrounding residential development (top), Hawthorn FC's current base that is now on the market (middle) and the ground hosting AFL in the 1980s (below). Credit: Hawthorn FC.