The Cottesloe community will have to wait longer for Ocean Beach Hotel’s $320 million redevelopment, with the developer seeking a three-year extension.
The Cottesloe community will have to wait longer for Ocean Beach Hotel’s $320 million redevelopment, with the developer seeking a three-year extension.
The Western Australian Planning Commission has received an application to extend the Ocean Beach Hotel’s substantial commencement deadline by 36 months.
Approved in mid-2023, the redevelopment of the property on 140 Marine Parade comprises residential apartments, hotel accommodation, a tavern, restaurants, and commercial tenancies.
One of the conditions for the approval was for construction to start within 36 months, being June 29, 2026.
Proprietor Stan Quinlivan collaborated with Edge Visionary Living, Hillam Architects, and Element Advisory (now SLR) to lodge the application through the state government's State Development Assessment Unit pathway in late 2021.
In the application for the time extension, Element said about $2.5 million has been committed to securing the approved design.
“Since obtaining the approval, a significant portion of the project team’s time has been dedicated to updated financial modelling and viability testing, as is typical for a project of this scale,” the application read.
In 2023, the WAPC approved a design to redevelop Ocean Beach Hotel into a 12-storey building with 185 apartments, a 120-room hotel, a day spa, and more than a dozen commercial tenancies.
At the time of the 2023 approval, the project had an estimated value of $221 million.
The application revealed the development team was not immune to cost escalation in the market.
“At the time of the approval being granted, it was anticipated that three years would be sufficient so as to commence works and implement the approval,” the application read.
“However since June 2023, there has been continuing escalation in construction costs and challenging conditions to secure the appropriately skilled and scaled construction workforce in the context of competition with numerous large scale public infrastructure projects.
“At the time of lodging the original application in December 2021, the estimated construction cost was less than $200 million, whereas this has now increased to approximately $320 million.”
An additional three years will give the proponent an appropriate amount of time and investment certainty to advance a detailed design, prepare for the latest national construction code, and engage a contractor, according to the application.
Element denied the project was placed on hold.
“There is nothing to suggest that the developer and landowner have sought to ‘warehouse’ the development approval,” the planner said in the application.
“The proponent has spent in the order of $2.5 million on design and consultant fees so as to have achieved the development approval in 2023.
“Clearly this significant sum of money would not have been expended if there was not a genuine intent to advance the project and implement the approval.”
The time extension bid will be considered by the WAPC.
