Halim Group cries foul over Windsor Hotel red light
The Windsor Hotel in central Melbourne. Source: Supplied
Halim Group director Adi Halim said the family was the victim of politics and was fully committed to the $330 million redevelopment of the 132-year-old dowager hotel, which it bought 10 years ago for $38m.
Victorian Planning Minister Richard Wynne defended his decision to reject an 18-month planning permit extension sought by the Halim Group, which wants to redevelop the hotel and add a 93m tower to the Bourke Street site.
“The developer could have built their tower at any time since their permit was granted in 2010. They have not, and it is up to them to decide how to move forward in light of the fact no extension has been given for their permit,” Mr Wynne said in a statement.
Speaking from London yesterday, Mr Halim told The Australian he had been placed in a catch-22 situation last Friday night because the Victorian government had abruptly refused to grant an extension of the hotel’s completion date to September 2018.
Mr Halim will fly back from London today seeking an urgent meeting with Mr Wynne, who has agreed to the meeting. “The Halim Group has requested a meeting — I am happy to meet with them and hearing why they haven’t started work for about five years, but am sticking by my decision to protect the Windsor’s long-term future,” Mr Wynne said.
The Victorian government’s attitude contrasts sharply with the behaviour of the NSW government, which has adopted a pro-development approach particularly in relation to hotels of late.
“The new NSW Planning Minister Rob Stokes is doing a lot to get development to occur and has taken a pro-growth attitude to the planning system, which is good,” said Chris Johnson, a former NSW government architect and chief executive of the developer lobby group, the Urban Taskforce.
“We are worried there are some signals from Victoria of the government moving in a less positive direction and this particular Windsor Hotel project could be part of that,” Mr Johnson said. The controversial redevelopment of the Windsor Hotel and construction of the tower has dogged Melbourne since July 2009, when the Halims first briefed the then Labor government on their plans.
Later that month the Halims lodged an application with Heritage Victoria and the Department of Planning, with the plans including a 27-storey tower set back from Bourke Street and a $32m upgrade of the heritage parts of the hotel. Last December, the Halims began early works on the redevelopment, starting weeks before the planning permit starting deadline. But the completion deadline did not allow enough time (36 months) to finish the project, the Halims say.
“Politics has been interfering with the project for the last six years. We were never given a fair chance to fulfil our planning permit responsibilities because politics got in the way,” Mr Halim told The Australian yesterday.
“It is frustrating to see that the planning permit could not be aligned with the heritage permits (which don’t expire until September, 2018).
“It is frustrating when the government says we are not serious. (For instance) we went out of our way to get the world’s best interior designers.”
Mr Halim argues he is a victim of political games.
“The build time required is 36 months and we have 18 months before the planning permit expires on January, 2017. We have spoken to three builders, none of them would sign a contract knowing they didn’t have enough time to complete it.”
Mr Halim, who has spent $16m maintaining the hotel since he bought it in 2005, said he would consider redeveloping the hotel to house residential apartments if the Victorian government would not grant him extra time to complete his hotel plans.
“I know many developers have looked at residential development. That is the easiest and most lucrative option. But to be perfectly honest, I would like to see this as a hotel. My family thinks that is the right thing to do. We will push for it and hopefully we will reach agreement.”
Mr Halim said he had successfully obtained three heritage permits for the redevelopment through Heritage Victoria, which he said had been easy to deal with.
“We only had to deal with the politicians because the redevelopment was over 25,000sq m. If the new proposal is less than 25,000sq m we will just deal with Heritage Victoria.”
Finance has been lined up to complete the redevelopment, he said.
An independent report from Essential Economics notes that The Windsor redevelopment would create 275 construction jobs and 715 direct and indirect jobs once the hotel redevelopment is finished. It would also generate $65m a year in guest spending.
The Halims want to redevelop The Windsor in the same style as Singapore’s famous Raffles hotel.
Source: The Australian, Lisa Allen, July 14th 2015
