The Williamstown RSL sub-branch has been given an option by RSL Victoria of keeping the title of a house next to the club, which is closing due to a multimillion debt on January 3.
Star Weekly has reported that the club’s trading arm has a $1.77million debt, while the sub-branch owes a further $1.738million.
RSL Victoria chief operations officer Brian Cairns said the sub-branch must repay $1.77 million of its debt before it can re-establish an RSL.
The club involves three titles – the club itself, its carpark and the adjacent house on Melbourne Road.
Last week’s Hobsons Bay council meeting heard that plans by Grocon to build a five-storey, 69-dwelling apartment block, with a smaller RSL clubroom and retail on the ground floor, had been shelved because of a heritage overlay on the house.
Williamstown RSL vice-president Rob Rowe said the option of keeping the house for use or sale gave the sub-branch some hope for the future.
“We’ve got a little bit of heart, a little flicker of a heartbeat there,” he said. “They’ve given us until January 13 to speak to our committee and make a decision.
“We’ve got to sit down and make some deliberations about that, because if we keep the house [for a sub-branch] then that takes a fair chunk out of the money we might get back at the end.
“We’ve got some really good hope … that we’re going to have agood outdome not only for our RSL but also for our community.”
