Waterfront hotel is victim of crunch (From Daily Echo)
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Waterfront hotel is victim of crunch
8:58am Tuesday 21st October 2008 in
-
- By Gareth Lewis » Business Editor
DREAMS of a newlook waterside heart for Southampton again lie in tatters after it emerged the credit crunch has put paid to work on a massive new hotel in Ocean Village.
The decision means two of the biggest projects on the city’s waterfront have fallen victim to the slump in the economy and may now never be built. It is a body blow to hopes the site might rival Portsmouth’s successful Gunwharf Quays.
Ocean Village Resorts (OVR) had intended its 224-bed, glass-sided hotel, complete with a waterfront “events piazza”, to be the catalyst to lure back prestigious sailing races and events to the city. The 13-storey hotel would also have had space for conferences of up to 800 people.
Bosses of the £50m scheme have followed the lead of fellow Ocean Village developer Wilson Bowden and put the brakes on development until “some point” in the future.
As previously reported in the Daily Echo, opposite the entrance to Ocean Village a third development, Crescent Apartments, also stands half finished and abandoned due to financial difficulties.
OVR had already run into financing trouble and gone back to the drawing board with a simplified scheme after a more ambitious plan was scuppered by spiralling construction costs.
Yesterday, the new scheme also hit the buffers.
OVR chief executive Tony Keeler said: “This decision to defer has come about as a consequence of the current deteriorating economic conditions in these uncertain times. We will continue to monitor and review this decision and it is anticipated that at some point in the future we will be in a position to recommence works on the project.
Ocean Village remains a priority for the company’s development plans and work behind the scenes will still continue.
The planning and design phases of the Hotel development have been successfully completed.”
Wilson Bowden called off work at its Admirals Quay development earlier this year with just three of the planned five blocks built and only two of the ten shops and bars completed. The site has been up for sale for around five months with no buyers.
Developers Inner Circle Homes, who were behind Crescent Apartments – a six-storey block of 88 flats, told workers to down tools, board up the windows and walk off the site after they hit financial difficulties. They were unable to give a day when work would start again.
Ocean Village’s woes follow a pattern of development disasters across the rest of Southampton and elsewhere in the country.
Already this year Southampton has seen plans for an art centre housed in two landmark glass towers collapse after developer City Lofts ran out of funding. The site, the former, Tyrrell and Green store, is to be demolished while the council attempts to find another developer to take it on.
Comments(16)
damien thorn
says...
9:47am Tue 21 Oct 08
Boris Remmington
says...
9:50am Tue 21 Oct 08
goard
says...
10:42am Tue 21 Oct 08
goard
veracity
says...
12:06pm Tue 21 Oct 08
Understand yours (& other people's frustration)
I travel a bit round the country and most Councils come in for criticism in some shape or form. even Portsmouth which some posters put forward as paragons of virtue.
Some Councillors, in other cities, appear to be frankly dishonest. The worst you can say about ours is they may be inept.
Go to Leeds/Newcastle/Live
rpool/Birmingham etc and there is much more City Centre development than in Soton with focus on the water, whether river or canals.
I have lived in Soton a long time and honestly believe it is a better place now than when I was a nipper.
Perhaps I am a lone voice but considered the proposed Hotel would regenerate Ocean Village.
Presumably OV owners MDH have a big problem now having spent £10m+ on a swanky Multi Deck Car park which had to be built to support the Hotel development and is always empty.
You probably won't like this but, in my view, access to the waterfront belongs to whoever owns the land, a good deal of which is actually reclaimed from the sea.
southy
says...
12:46pm Tue 21 Oct 08
any way back to the topic we dont need any more hotels they can fill up the ones we got all ready.council needs to turn this all back in to dock land,thats what it was built for and thats what it should be use for.
mr.southampton
says...
1:35pm Tue 21 Oct 08
Look around the City and you will see, Georgian buildings, Victorian terraces, pre-war suburbs and housing estates, all built as the result of different factors converging. At some point these factors diverge so changes in social policy in the 80s led to the end of the estate which itself was a product of social policy arising from the aftermath of war.
The kind of development that has so far characterised this decade (lots of flats!) was driven by factors such as buy-to-let mortgages etc and changes in how we see our ideal home, no longer suburban but urban, more Ross and Rachel from Friends rather than Margot and Gerry in the good-life. Some of these factors have now collapsed so this type of development will be replaced by another type of development driven by a new set of factors.
goard
says...
2:55pm Tue 21 Oct 08
goard
stay local
says...
3:02pm Tue 21 Oct 08
I said at the time is was a waste and now it shows all the derelict sites where building plans are not being followed through.
What shall we doo with the model (is it still hidden away under the stair in the library) it might be worth something a bit like a Titanic lifejacket!
“Southampton's new City Vision Centre
20th May 2008
Southampton is the first city outside London to launch a City Vision Centre. Based at the Southampton’s City Art Gallery, the City Vision Centre is to be launched on May 21 by City Vision Networks. The exhibition includes the largest machined model in the UK (5.5 x 4m) and a virtual model of Southampton. Both models are easy to change and update. They will be used as a design and planning tool, allowing the public to see development proposals and help shape the future of the city.”
southy
says...
3:46pm Tue 21 Oct 08
Ben Doone
says...
6:23pm Tue 21 Oct 08
You can access the waterfront at Mayflower Park & Town Quay (both good locations to watch marine activity)
At some time in the future (when the financial climate improves)Royal Pier will be developed so things will eventually improve.
Hythe Marina is a good spot as you can see the ships on the Soton side.
If Dibden Bay had been allowed you would have been able to view big ship activity from the Soton side rather than an unintersting piece of reclaimed scrub land that you currently view, but that's another story.
paul b
says...
7:07pm Tue 21 Oct 08
try harder
Dr Alimantado
says...
8:05pm Tue 21 Oct 08
mr.southampton wrote:you are right that there will always be trends but the ideas put forward show a total lack of imagination on the part of our great leaders.
I don't see why so many people are getting worked up, the development of Cities has always been stop and start, depending on the economy, social policy and other circumstances like war etc. Look around the City and you will see, Georgian buildings, Victorian terraces, pre-war suburbs and housing estates, all built as the result of different factors converging. At some point these factors diverge so changes in social policy in the 80s led to the end of the estate which itself was a product of social policy arising from the aftermath of war. The kind of development that has so far characterised this decade (lots of flats!) was driven by factors such as buy-to-let mortgages etc and changes in how we see our ideal home, no longer suburban but urban, more Ross and Rachel from Friends rather than Margot and Gerry in the good-life. Some of these factors have now collapsed so this type of development will be replaced by another type of development driven by a new set of factors.
It's all very well building grand flats and high rises but when will they get it into their thick heads that people won't invest in them if there is no glorious view, no parking, no grand facilities.
Gun Wharf is an example of how it is done right. Landmark, nice harbour, nice restaurants, entertainment, sea views. It's simple really.
The security word is past-town...strangel
y appropriate
owen_thesaints
says...
8:47pm Tue 21 Oct 08
Ben Doone wrote:why does everyone forget they can access the waterfront in Woolston/Weston?
Goard you sound like a passionate Sotonian. Thats good.
You can access the waterfront at Mayflower Park & Town Quay (both good locations to watch marine activity)
At some time in the future (when the financial climate improves)Royal Pier will be developed so things will eventually improve.
Hythe Marina is a good spot as you can see the ships on the Soton side.
If Dibden Bay had been allowed you would have been able to view big ship activity from the Soton side rather than an unintersting piece of reclaimed scrub land that you currently view, but that's another story.
southy
says...
9:07pm Tue 21 Oct 08
stay local
says...
3:43am Wed 22 Oct 08
12:46pm Tue 21 Oct 08
it might be reclaim land from tidal waters,but on the east shores of the river test there use to be a public footpath that use to run from the city walls all the way to romsey abbey.and the same for the river itchen on the west shores but that path use to go to church in winchester where king alfred is or was buried.
any way back to the topic we dont need any more hotels they can fill up the ones we got all ready.council needs to turn this all back in to dock land,thats what it was built for and thats what it should be use for.
What an interesting suggestion. The footpath is still there more or less along the side of the railway line and Western esplanade, (where it still exists) but following your argument of returning the land to its original use, do you mean rebuilding the banana dock and having bananas unloaded by hand? In which case we should close the container port and return to the historical style of shipping. Should we also return the reclaimed land to the sea and allow West quay to flood?
Whilst it may seem quaint to hark back to the old days, it is normally due to the former methods becoming unsustainable or in this case, the realisation that a wow factor for the city is not another hotel and especially one that looked like Sturminster house!
Ocean Village resident
says...
8:23am Wed 22 Oct 08
Shall I come and stick a new dock on top of where you live?
That hotel would have really given the area huge lift.
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