New club generates interest

It has been more than three years in the making, but Kings Park’s Next Generation health and racquet club has opened for business.

The new $20 million offering has many of the trappings of a top hotel – a 20-metre rooftop pool and bar, members lounge, cafe and day spa – but the five squash courts, full gymnasium and proximity to Royal Kings Park Tennis Club’s 30 courts tell a different story.

Designed by Perth architect Peter Hunt and built by Perkins, the five-level facility has been positioned on the site of the former Eastman building and complements the restored heritage-listed 1926 pavilion and the 1935 McGibbon grandstand.

The club also features a 20-metre indoor pool, spa and sauna, creche, sports store and group fitness facilities.

Next Generation Clubs Australia marketing manager Andrew Savage told WA Business News the Kings Park club set a new standard for the fitness industry. 

Mr Savage said interest in new memberships at the club had exceeded expectations, through a heavy take up of memberships before its June 1 launch. 

Next Generation Kings Park has signed more than 2,500 people to date, he said, including 450 existing members of the tennis club.

“There is a real mix of memberships between the two markets of fitness and relaxation and the racquet sports,” Mr Savage said.

As well as pitching to the West Perth corporate crowd, the club has been selling the merits of its pools and tennis courts to families by offering children’s coaching clinics.

The Kings Park club is the second WA venture for the 10-year-old company besides its Bibra Lake club, which it built by converting a former Bunnings warehouse on Port Kembla Drive.

The Kings Park venture has essentially delivered a lifeline to the 107-year-old tennis club, which had faced closure at the end of 2003 when a proposal to refurbish its ageing clubroom and courts failed.

Next Generation has agreed to manage the tennis courts under a 25-year sub lease agreement under which the tennis club will remain head lessee with the Botanic Gardens and Parks Authority.

Providing the Kings Park venture is a success, Mr Savage said Next Generation would look at opening a new club in Perth’s northern suburbs to add to its portfolio of properties, including Memorial Drive in Adelaide and Ryde in Sydney.