Eureka Stadium (Mars Stadium)

[Tandy]

Sadly that big empty block is privately owned by property speculators who are sitting on the land waiting for the price to go up. It is private property. The Ballarat Council did offer them $4 million for it two years ago with a view to developing the land mainly for more sports fields. In particular to develop a new regional hockey centre and to allow for extension of the nearby basketball centre. There are plans to build a new car park off Howitt Street to compliment the new athletics centre. What the precinct desperately needs is the train platform over the road which the council and various key stakeholders in Ballarat have been advocating for since the stadium was first proposed. I would argue that the stadium needs better lighting and the train platform before it needs new grandstands. But what do I know? Back in 2015 the original long-term development plan was to build a large carpark on the eastern side of the rail line along Norman Street which would be about 600 metres walking distance to the stadium. That land is still all empty and there are no plans for any development along it at this point in time.

I totally agree that the stadium ought not be expanded in capacity until they sort out where and how all the patrons are going to park or come up with a better alternative means for them to get to and from the stadium (i.e. Trains).

That train platform would be a game changer too. I was really impressed on my first visit that Ballarat has this stadium and hopefully in the future they can make it a real feature walking from your car or train through the precinct.