Sharks Leagues Club: Seven Years in the Making
The Cronulla Sutherland Leagues Club — known to most as Sharkies — closed its doors on Captain Cook Drive in December 2019. The plan was simple enough: gut the building as part of the broader Woolooware Bay Town Centre development, rebuild the top two floors, and reopen in early 2022. That was the plan. Reality had other ideas.
Seven years later, the building is still not open. But after years of delays, legal disputes, developer negotiations, and a pandemic that threw the entire construction industry sideways, the project is now genuinely underway. Xenia Constructions has been on site since August 2025, the facade demolition is complete, and the fit-out is progressing. The target is mid-to-late 2026.
This is one of the most protracted club redevelopment stories in NSW — and one of the most instructive.
The Backstory
The Woolooware Bay redevelopment was always bigger than a leagues club. Approved as a State Significant Development in 2012, the $300 million master plan covered the 10-hectare Sharks site and included approximately 700 residential apartments, a neighbourhood retail centre, medical facilities, public foreshore boardwalks, and upgrades to the club and stadium precinct. The development partners — originally Bluestone Capital Ventures, later Novm and Capital Corporation — would deliver the residential, retail, and hotel components. The Sharks would get their club back, rebuilt within the shell of the existing building.
The leagues club was always the last piece of the puzzle. The residential towers went up. The retail precinct filled with tenants. A hotel opened. But the club — the asset that started the whole thing — sat dormant. The shell was handed over incomplete, and the Sharks found themselves locked in negotiations with the developers over defects, scope, and timing. A confidentiality clause prevented the club from publicly detailing the hold-up, adding to member frustration.
CEO Dino Mezzatesta acknowledged the pain at successive AGMs but could not share specifics. "While I would like to provide more detail as to what is holding up the process, legally we are bound by a confidentiality clause," he told members in early 2025.
In the meantime, the club amalgamated with the Kareela Golf Club — now operating as Sharks at Kareela — to give members a temporary home. That venue has served its purpose, but it was never intended to be permanent.
The Breakthrough
In July 2025, the Sharks announced that a formal agreement had been reached with Novm and Capital Corporation for the handover of the club shell. After years of stalemate, the site was finally back in the club's hands.
Chairman Steve Mace did not sugarcoat the journey. "This has been a long and complex journey, but today marks a defining moment," he said.
The club simultaneously confirmed the appointment of Xenia Constructions to deliver the build and fit-out. Xenia had already been engaged in pre-construction planning for nearly 12 months — a sign that the club was preparing to move the moment the handover was finalised.
The Project Team
| Role | Name / Firm |
|---|---|
| Client | Cronulla Sutherland Leagues Club |
| Chairman | Steve Mace |
| CEO | Dino Mezzatesta |
| Builder | Xenia Constructions |
| Project Manager | CARAS |
| Masterplan Architect | Scott Carver Architects |
| Residential Architect | Turner + Associates |
| Landscape Architect | Aspect Studios |
| Developer (Woolooware Bay) | Novm / Capital Corporation |
Xenia brings a strong hospitality portfolio — Squires Landing at The Rocks, Babylon Rooftop within Westfield Sydney, and the Coogee Surf Life Saving Club among their recent projects. For a club fit-out of this complexity, that track record matters. CARAS has been appointed as project manager to oversee the delivery and coordinate between the Sharks, Xenia, and the development partners.
What Is Being Built
The new Sharks Leagues Club occupies the top two floors and half the basement level of the existing building shell, adjacent to Sharks Stadium (now Ocean Protect Stadium). The scope is a complete internal fit-out within the developer-delivered shell.
Level 3 — Main Operating Floor: This is where the action is. The floor will include a bistro, cafe, gaming area, and chairman's lounge. The centrepiece is an 1,800 square metre alfresco deck overlooking Woolooware Bay — a genuine waterfront hospitality space that few clubs in Sydney can match. For a club that spent decades on a landlocked site at the bottom of Captain Cook Drive, this is a transformative shift in amenity.
Level 4 — Functions and Events: The top floor will be predominantly conference and function rooms, with the largest space catering for 550 people. This positions the club as a serious events venue for the Sutherland Shire — weddings, corporate events, community functions — with views across the bay.
The design intent is to create a modern, light-filled venue that connects to its waterfront setting. The alfresco deck is the signature move — north-facing, overlooking the bay, and large enough to be a destination in its own right on game days and beyond.
The Construction Timeline
The build has moved quickly since the handover:
- July 2025: Formal agreement reached with developers. Site handed back to the Sharks.
- August 2025: Xenia Constructions commenced full-time site establishment — sheds, hoardings, loading areas, fencing.
- September 2025: Facade demolition began, along with temporary waterproofing and new structural elements for the entry awnings and function room decks.
- Late 2025: High-level services, risers, floor levelling, and infill slab works progressed.
- Early 2026: Fit-out works commenced.
- Mid-to-late 2026: Projected opening.
The 12-to-15-month build programme is aggressive but achievable given the scope is primarily internal fit-out within an existing shell — not a ground-up construction. The structure, floor plates, and core services are already in place from the developer's works.
What Went Wrong — and What Boards Can Learn
The Sharks' experience is a cautionary tale for any club entering a joint venture or development partnership. Several factors combined to turn a three-year project into a seven-year saga.
Developer dependency is the single biggest risk. The Sharks did not control the delivery of their own building. The club shell was part of a broader mixed-use development, and the club's fit-out could not commence until the developer handed over the shell in an acceptable condition. When the developer's programme slipped — due to COVID, construction industry headwinds, and commercial disputes — the club had no ability to accelerate the timeline. They were, as Mezzatesta put it, "at the mercy of the developers."
Confidentiality clauses limit your ability to manage member expectations. The legal constraints that prevented the club from explaining the delays created a communication vacuum. Members were frustrated, media coverage was negative, and the board had to absorb criticism it could not publicly respond to. Any club entering a development agreement should negotiate for transparency provisions that allow member communication, even if specific commercial terms remain confidential.
Have a fallback venue — but recognise its limits. The amalgamation with Kareela Golf Club gave the Sharks a temporary home for their members. That was smart. But a temporary venue is not a substitute for the real thing. Seven years is a long time to ask members to wait, and some will not come back. The longer the delay, the harder the reactivation.
Separate the things you can control from the things you cannot. If the club had retained the ability to deliver its own fit-out independent of the developer's programme — even partially — it may have been able to open in stages rather than waiting for everything to align. The structure of the development agreement locked the club into a single critical path.
Pre-construction planning is not wasted time. One thing the Sharks got right was engaging Xenia Constructions almost 12 months before the handover was finalised. When the agreement was signed, the builder was ready to mobilise within weeks. That head start is now paying dividends in the construction programme.
Where It Stands Now
As of early 2026, the fit-out is underway. Fan forums suggest realistic expectations have settled around a late 2026 opening — potentially timed to the NRL finals series, which would be a fitting homecoming for a club that has spent the better part of a decade without a home.
The broader Woolooware Bay Town Centre is largely complete. The residential apartments are near capacity, the retail and food outlets are trading, and the precinct has established itself as a genuine neighbourhood centre. The leagues club is the final piece. When it opens, it will anchor the precinct and give the Sharks something they have not had in seven years: a place to call home on the same site where it all started.
At UpScale, we help club boards navigate the complexities of redevelopment delivery — including managing the risks that come with developer partnerships, staged construction, and projects that need to keep trading through the build. If your club is planning a redevelopment or dealing with a stalled project, get in touch. We have seen what works, what does not, and how to keep things moving.