The abandoned Australian Federal Police complex in Weston could be demolished and replaced with housing.
A development application for the site's demolition has been lodged with the ACT Planning and Land Authority and a decision is expected to be made in coming weeks.
![Preisdent of Woden Valley Gymnastics Club Chris Burrows and club manager Bob Morton outside the AFP complex in Weston.](/web/20170312223220im_/http://www.canberratimes.com.au/content/dam/images/g/u/v/4/x/j/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.guuo96.png/1489236497123.jpg)
Talks were held on Wednesday between members of ACTPLA and the site's current owners NEB Holdings about the application, with the demolition expected to cost an estimated $2.1 million.
The company's director John Bradley said NEB was looking at using the complex for other purposes.
![The club is calling on the government for the site to be used for the growing number of gymnasts in the ACT.](/web/20170312223220im_/http://www.canberratimes.com.au/content/dam/images/g/u/v/4/x/s/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.guuo96.png/1489236497123.jpg)
"It will most likely be a residential subdivision," Mr Bradley said.
A spokesman for ACTPLA said while no submissions have been lodged as yet to redevelop the Unwin Street site, a DA could be submitted shortly after the complex was demolished.
"No DA has been received to date, although the Planning and Land Authority is aware that an Estate Development application is currently being prepared for lodgement in the future," the spokesman said.
The ACTPLA spokesman said if the application was approved by the ACT government, it could still be several months before the building was demolished.
"Developments are typically approved with a two-year timeframe to commence," the spokesman said.
The complex was purchased by NEB for an undisclosed amount in 2001 after the Commonwealth lease on the site was sold by the Department of Finance.
The site was used by the AFP for forensics work until 2016, when officers moved into a new multi-million dollar lab in Majura.
The Weston complex was opened for the AFP in 1980, being refurbished in 2000 and 2007.
However, the plan to potentially demolish the site has angered members of Weston's sporting community.
Woden Valley Gymnastics Club manager Bob Morton said the demolition would include the AFP's gymnasium at the site, which could be used as a permanent space for the growing club.
Mr Morton said with a shortage of indoor sporting facilities in the area, the AFP gymnasium would be an ideal location to grow the club, with many of its members training at a national or world championship level.
"We currently rent space from the ACT government at the old Holder High School in the old assembly hall," he said.
"But at the moment, we're putting through about 1200 kids a week and space is very tight, particularly when we've got a number of gymnasts training at the highest level in Australia."
The club's membership has grown by more than 10 per cent every year for the past six years.
While the club's manager is looking at other sites to be used for a second gymnasium, he said the AFP complex was the only area that had a permanent space for gymnastics.
"We looked at schools and community centres around the local area and the issue is you would have to set up and pack up equipment every time you use it," he said.
"[The AFP site] would give us at least twice the size."
Despite the calls to save the gymnasium from demolition, the club's objection came only after the public consultation for the DA had ended.
Mr Morton said the club only found out about the potential space when it was too late.
"There was a sense of disillusionment that were was a space such as this sitting idle for a considerable time and no one could get access to it," he said.