FREO HEIRLOOM WINS STATE HERITAGE AWARD

 

The Fremantle HEIRLOOM by MATCH residential development at Queen Victoria Street has won two categories in last night’s annual WA Heritage Council awards for adaptive reuse of a heritage building.

It won the Gerry Gauntlett award for excellence in conservation and also the adaptive reuse award

MATCH converted the former Dalgety Woolstores building, that was built in 1923. into 183 residential units.

The judges said that the building was a testament to the dedication and financial commitment of MATCH and they had used innovative solutions.

The Heirloom development was financially supported by Sirona Capital, which will start the Kings Square Project in the next few weeks, helping to rebuild the Fremantle economy.

Hillcrest in North Fremantle received a commendation for the conservation work done on it.

Roel Loopers

ALMOST READY TO MOVE INTO HEIRLOOM

 

The adaptive re-use of the historic Fremantle Dalgety Woolstores into the Heirloom residential apartments by Match and Sirona Capital is almost finished, with scaffolding coming down at Beach Street showing the old building in its new glory.

There is something truly majestic about this building, and the renovations look fine but for the one design feature of large boxed windows on the top level. To me that looks inconsistent to the rest of the facade, but that is just my individual opinion and I am sure everyone will have they own say on it.

Estimated occupation of the building is December this year and it will be a great addition to the Freo inner city.

Roel Loopers

CITY NO MATCH FOR HEIRLOOM

In a highly unusual move Item C 1503-4 Heirloom Development was a late withdrawal at this evening’s Fremantle full Council meeting. Mayor Brad Pettitt explained that the COF had received communication from the MATCH group today where they asked Council to no longer consider purchasing up to five apartments in the Heirloom by Match development on Queen Victoria Street as they were pursuing other avenues.

It could well be that the public community backlash that started here on Freo’s View and continued on other blogs startled the developers and they realised it was bad PR for them and the development and might affect investors’ confidence.

It’s always good to see democracy at work and I hope the Heirloom project will start soon as it will be great to help revitalise the inner city East End of Freo.

Roel Loopers

FREMANTLE CITY TO BAIL OUT HEIRLOOM PROJECT

City of Fremantle Councillors will on Wednesday evening consider if it is appropriate and in the best interest of the City to purchase up to five apartments in the Heirloom by Match residential development on Queen Victoria Street. Match want to develop the heritage-listed former Dalgety Woolstores site but the pre-sales have been slow due to an over supply of residential units in the Perth metro area. Match needs pre-sales of 125 units but have only sold 118 so far.

The City is asked to support the development, and a building start by possibly April this year, by investing $ 3 million for five discounted one and two bedroom apartments in the complex.

I believe this is an interesting dilemma as it might set expectations and precedents for other commercial development in Fremantle. The Kings Square development for example is being delayed more and more, so what if Sirona Capital asked the City to help bail them out as well in some way or form? What if the Atwell Arcade developers can’t find someone to lease their ground-level shops? Should the city lease or purchase anything at all they don’t require to run a local government? Instead of purchasing five residential apartments, would it maybe be better for the COF to offer a loan to Match, and would that be appropriate to do?

As the officers point out in the agenda, it is unlikely the City would make a profit on the sale of the units because the residential market is down, there is an over supply of new units on the market, so COF might sit on the units for years and might even have to start renting them out which would incur maintenance and management costs for a long period.

The WA State Government is making a huge loss on apartments they bought in Karratha to support residential development there, so I don’t think the City of Fremantle should risk $ 3 million of ratepayers’ money to help private developers who are set to make millions.

The pressure developers constantly put on local councils that if they don’t do this or that than development will not go ahead is something Councillors need to reject, as it has become a common approach by developers to force Councils into making decisions that are highly unpopular in the community.

We all want Fremantle to move forward, progress and develop and we all want to see more life injected into the East of the city, and I really like the Heirloom development, but private developers take financial risks based on expected large profits and local government should not get sucked into speculative investment, supposedly because otherwise a development is not viable. Let’s not forget that Match also intends to develop the former Energy Museum site into residential and commercial, so why take that on when they can’t even get enough pre-sales for the Heirloom project?

Roel Loopers