DESIGN plans have been released for the $4 million Bendigo Tennis Centre upgrade, with construction expected to begin in four months.
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The plans include replacing the current building with a new pavilion, to include change rooms, multipurpose function room and four international standard tennis courts at the Nolan Street complex.
Victorian sports minister John Eren visited the centre on Tuesday to discuss the upgrade, which was funded with a $2.4 million state government contribution, $1 million from the council and $600,000 to be raised by the Bendigo Tennis Association and Tennis Australia.
The upgrade is expected to begin in November and be complete by September next year, making the centre the largest hard court complex outside of a major city in Australia.
Mr Eren said the upgrade would allow the success of tennis in Melbourne to flow on to Bendigo, and regional Victoria.
“Our population is growing faster than anywhere else in the nation, all of that means that there are pressures on centres like Bendigo to provide more facilities,” he said.
The council has applied for $2 million in the federal government’s National Stronger Regions Fund for the second stage of the project, which includes a grandstand. The application was made in March and a response is expected in the coming months.
Labor promised the funding before the federal election, but were unable to form government meaning the wait would continue.
City of Greater Bendigo chief executive officer Craig Niemann said the council was confident of gaining a commitment from the federal government.
“We think it’s a major initiative that includes so many different parties that are funding this project, that it’s pretty difficult for them not to fund it,” he said.
“We just think it’s a really vital piece of the project here that will make this such a great facility for tennis in regional Victoria, and regional Australia.”
The Bendigo Tennis Centre hosts a number of tournaments, including the Bendigo Festival of Tennis, the Bendigo Bank Winter JT and AMT Tennis Tournament, and has hosted top Australian players Casey Dellacqua and Matt Ebden in recent years.
Bendigo Tennis Association executive officer Leon Retallick said the upgrade could help to attract more major tournaments to the city.
“We run a lot of events now, we look forward to potentially getting some high level men’s tennis back to Bendigo, which will be terrific,” he said.
“People love coming here, it’s a great town, we have great accommodation, great restaurants, it’s no secret people like coming to Bendigo. This facility will make sure they keep coming for a long time yet.”
The BTA has set a fundraising target of $250,000 for the upgrade and will host a number of events to reach the goal.
Mr Retallick said the association was confident of securing funding for the second stage.
“We’ve had lots of positive discussions with all sorts of ministers,” he said.
“Tennis Australia has done a lot of active campaigning on our behalf and for the city as well, the federal government are aware of our project.”