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Belmont Redevelopment

West Australian Racing

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  • thefalconthefalcon    18,805 posts
    funny you brought this up. only this week a mate and i were talking about all that hoo-ha about a supa dupa grandstand with perths best roof top bar.
    probably best we do not go any further on the subject

    Manchild likes this post.

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  • SLIPPERGOLDENSLIPPERGOLDEN    7,016 posts
    Good to see Damien back out of hiding  :))

    JimmyPop, thefalcon, Chris likes this post.

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  • DamienWyerDamienWyer    7,363 posts
    Not so much in hiding but just got tired of tilting at windmills all the time and nobody seemed to care, least of all the members themselves.

    The view of many, as I was told by someone yesterday, is that I want to see Perth Racing fail. I actually don't want to see Racing fail, but I couldn't care less for the principal club who continue to promise the World yet deliver an atlas.

    The legacy of the Belmont site will drag the industry backwards for the next decade or more. That is simply the reality of the situation. 


    JimmyPop likes this post.

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  • TiversTivers    7,701 posts
    I have no opinion as to your attitude towards PR or otherwise, but do fail to see what relveance a failed development on a bog in East Perth has to do with anything regarding it.

    tony likes this post.

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  • DamienWyerDamienWyer    7,363 posts
    Tivers said:

    I have no opinion as to your attitude towards PR or otherwise, but do fail to see what relveance a failed development on a bog in East Perth has to do with anything regarding it.

    Lendlease have considerable more economic clout than most in the Australian property development market. They can see no future developing on the banks of the river. Perhaps that sinking feeling is being felt also on the mudflats of Belmont
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  • RodentRodent    6,488 posts
    edited June 23
    Only 9 years ago...

    Manchild likes this post.

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  • jumjum    3,217 posts
    Rodent said:

    Only 9 years ago...


    :))
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  • thefalconthefalcon    18,805 posts
    what happened to the 50 million?
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  • TiversTivers    7,701 posts
    DamienWyer said:

    Tivers said:

    I have no opinion as to your attitude towards PR or otherwise, but do fail to see what relveance a failed development on a bog in East Perth has to do with anything regarding it.

    Lendlease have considerable more economic clout than most in the Australian property development market. They can see no future developing on the banks of the river. Perhaps that sinking feeling is being felt also on the mudflats of Belmont
    They're not proceeding because the ground isn't suitable to build on - primarily reclaimed land on / in the river. No proposal to build as such at Belmont
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  • thefalconthefalcon    18,805 posts
    what a blody mess. where was the feasibility study to check the suitability of the ground?
    the dutchman mentions "when we get the balance of the 50 million....." which indicates the club must have a large slab of it.
    what happened to it...did the club have to refund it? i can tell you that not a bent cent has been spent on belmont and i was so looking forward to enjoying a twilight drink on the rooftop bar on a nice balmy night...

    Manchild likes this post.

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  • TheDivaTheDiva    12,916 posts
    he's talking about across the river falcon... lendlease have pulled out. 
    It has precious little to do with the Belmont deal. 
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  • PictureSon1973PictureSon1973    107 posts
    Don’t be fooled about not being able to build on reclaimed land or land that doesn’t have a stable base that is what piling is for example all high rise buildings in the CBD / Burswood Building’s /
    The Stadium across the Road .
    Lend lease have vast experience in this field .
    Someone knows the truth and believe me feasibility isn’t the problem
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  • thefalconthefalcon    18,805 posts
    you are correct, 1973 but it doesn't answer my question as to where the money is that was given to perth racing. as  said above the dutchman stated he was waiting for the BALANCE of the 50mio. where the dosh?
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  • Piston_BrokePiston_Broke    2,016 posts
    thefalcon said:

    you are correct, 1973 but it doesn't answer my question as to where the money is that was given to perth racing. as  said above the dutchman stated he was waiting for the BALANCE of the 50mio. where the dosh?

    Was the 50 mil not the deposit ?

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  • DamienWyerDamienWyer    7,363 posts
    The $50M was already largely spent, firstly on removing the debt stretching back to the infamous Alasdair Robertson in his CEO role in the shadows of Ted Van Heemst as Chairman. 

    The Belmont redevelopment project was not Ted and Alasdair's first venture into playing moguls, it was preceded by the area immediately in front of the main admin building opposite the Ascot course. That piece of dirt was swapped from the local council in return for some land around the river owned by the title deed granted to the WATC decades earlier. So they got it effectively for nothing and thought they would make millions from doing a housing project. Anyone want to guess how that turned out ?

    For those of you with good memories, these two individuals, thought it would be a good idea to sue me for defamation because of a piece I wrote for this website in which as a member of Perth Racing, I highlighted what I believed were irregularities in what we were being told as members.

    Some of you may not know that my life partner is a lawyer and under her guidance, I decided to defend the absurdity of the four charges leveled against me. We engaged the best defamation lawyer in town, who was then surprised by a call from an SC (now a Judge) who would oversee the proceedings. Perth Racing on the other hand, used lawyers that acted on instruction and folded at almost every step of the way but charged them $27,000 for the work. My legal fees were just $6,000.

    Charges were dropped along the way to the promise of Court, unfortunately it's only defaming if it is not true. The final charges were dropped if I apologised for hurting their feelings, so pathetic were the attitudes of senior management.

    They took legal action against a racecourse in Scotland over naming rights and lost. They took action against a former employee in the courts and lost. Then they started marketing the Belmont idea turning down the State Govt in the process who were looking for a site for what would become Optus Stadium. From memory, that deal was worth $460M in funds and in kind by the building of a new complex down in the southern corridor but the sticking point was that all three codes would have to share. The WATC said a flat no. Finally some capitol works around Ascot contributed to what became of the $50M sale of the Belmont titles.

    The talked about trailing income from apartment sales funding Racing into the future had less credibility than a meeting of the Flat Earth Society. When Van Heemst refers in the interview to 'under pinning our future' I don't think a less accurate statement could have ever been made.

    Currently, in fact earlier this week, it was announced that another milestone had been reached in this project now ten years in and that construction could be expected to commence in 7 to 8 years on tower one.

    That puts a completion date of circa 20 years on the first tower from initial announcement to doors open. If that happens, the timeline for the entire project would have blown out to 30 years plus. Any trailing income would almost be meaningless by that time as the Club is already standing at RWWA's doorstep asking for funding every year since.

    A time honoured race has been renamed in former Chairman Van Heemst name since.


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