A FINAL decision on the planned joint venture between the WA Trotting Association and the WA Turf Club will be delayed for at least a further six weeks as the WATA awaits a valuation and heritage report on the Gloucester Park property.
Plans for the WATA to join with the WATC and use the Belmont Park facilities jointly still hang in the balance depending on the price the Valuer General’s Office puts on Gloucester Park. A figure around $30 million has been mentioned.
When news of the joint venture was first reported in Business News in July, WATC chairman Ted van Heemst said it would only be a matter of weeks before an arrangement was reached between the two bodies.
The valuation work was stepped up last week after the VGO recommended that geotechnical work be carried out on the site. Soil and core sampling is to be carried out to determine the estimated cost of future site works when the land is subdivided into 300 blocks.
WATA president Bob Fowler said that, in the worse case scenario, site works could cost up to $100,000 a block, severely denting any realisation price and the prospect of the land being developed.
Mr Fowler said the move would only be made if enough surplus was retained after the WATA spends a reported $20 million to “buy into” the Belmont Park facility.
