DEVELOPER Luke Saraceni says a building on the recently purchased Raine Square site will probably go no higher than eight to 10 storeys due to the size of the site.
Mr Saraceni and his business partner, Hossean Pourzand, paid $21.5 million for Raine Square.
Mr Saraceni said construction would proceed as soon as a major tenant was secured, with the concept for the site to be sorted out over the next few months.
“We know what we want to do with the site, and the design will probably go out to a design competition,” he told WA Business News.
“We have in mind a 250-bay basement car park connected to the Wellington Street train station, and two levels of retail on the ground and basement level, both of between 5,000 and 7,000 square metres with an anchor tenant on each level occupying 2,500 to 5,000 square metres each.
“Above the retail will be a two level, 350-bay shoppers’ car park, and then there will be 25,000 to 30,000 square metres of office floor space with large 5,000 square metre floor plates.
“There will also be a 150-room hotel and we are currently in negotiation with some parties.
“We will have linkages to the train and bus station, and will retain the two historic hotels, but upgrade their frontage.”
Mr Saraceni indicated there was no rush to start the project and said that, realistically, it would be at least a year, if not two, before construction commenced.
In addition to Raine Square there are several projects centred around the Wellington Street train station and the additional pedestrian traffic the station will bring to the area.