Sensational-Adelaide.com

bmw boy wrote:

cruel_world00 wrote:What.the.hell....is going on with this site? I swear I have never seen a project of such small size take so long. It has looked the exact same way for a good 6 months now I reckon. Any news as to why it has taken so long?

haha just what I was thinking. The only progress on this site lately is a large patch of graffiti right up the top of it. somehting about 'apples..' lol

Wayville's rat terrace

Tim Williams

09Jun08


The unfinished apartment block on Goodwood Rd.

AN APARTMENT development at Wayville, left half-finished after three years by a legal dispute, has rats for residents and leaks stormwater "like Niagara falls", the neighbouring landlord says.

Rose Tce Lodge owner Paul Pledger says his staff regularly see a "procession of rats" on the dividing wall between his property and "The Terraces", the 47-apartment development started on the corner of Goodwood Rd back in August 2005.

"With 24 residents here it's always a worry," Mr Pledger said. "It's clearly a haven for them to breed."

He said rainwater also poured 'like Niagara Falls" from the roof of The Terraces, which does not have stormwater piping or guttering.

It leaves the driveway of Rose Tce Lodge water-soaked, Mr Pledger said, and it could not dry out as the new building blocked sunlight to that area.

Construction of The Terraces has stalled for long periods because of a financial dispute between developer Bob Moore, of company Wayville 283, and builder Commercial & General Projects.

Commercial & General Projects has claimed in the Supreme Court action that it is owed more than $2 million in unpaid accounts.

Work stopped between August 2006 and April 2007; the last on-site work was in October 2007, after 28 apartments were sold off the plan.

Mr Pledger also said he was still waiting for Mr Moore to install a promised new television aerial with a booster box to Rose Tce Lodge, to restore its reception after it was blocked out by the apartment block.

Lodge manager Roslyn Black said the construction had been "an absolute bloody disaster" for the boarding house. She said a three-storey wall facing the rear of the lodge remained unpainted, while vandals had spread graffiti inside the unoccupied site.

Intruders regularly broke into the property and activated an alarm, but in recent weeks the alarm no longer seemed to be working, she said.

Mr Moore said a private security firm visited the site twice a day and he would look into the rat and stormwater problems.

Commercial & General Projects declined to comment.

Pants wrote:If Mr Moore's lawyers are reading this... the opinions expressed in the above post are those of wilkiebarkid alone and do not represent those of sensational-adelaide.com. Sensational-adelaide.com takes no responsibility for and makes no representations in respect of the statements or other material posted by members of this forum. Thank you.

Holdfast Bay Council members voted confidentially to approve the sale of the 4053sqm site, in Buckle St, to an undisclosed buyer, on July 8, although the contract is yet to settle.

The buyer is understood to be a developer who is planning 13 two-storey townhouses - but first faces a cleanup bill estimated to cost several million dollars and re-zoning approval.

It is understood the council was originally offered $750,000 for the site but this was later withdrawn and reduced to $120,000.

The council made a counter offer of $400,000 but has since agreed to the lesser figure of $150,000.

The Guardian Messenger understands the council has spent $280,000 on environmental and other reports on the contaminated site since September, 2003.
It is also waiting on Planning Minister Paul Holloway to agree to re-zone the site from commercial to residential.

The original Glenelg Gas Works, at Glenelg North, closed in the 1950s; Glenelg Council bought the site from the State Government in the 1970s, to use it as a depot.

In the early 1990s it was discovered to be highly contaminated and was later closed after the Glenelg and Brighton councils merged in 1997. It has not been used since.

A 2003 report confirmed soil and ground water at the site contained high levels of mercury, lead and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. After learning it could cost more than $3 million to clean up the site, the council, in 2006, started looking at selling it unclean. A 2007 valuation estimated the site was worth $2 million if cleaned.

Holdfast Bay Mayor Ken Rollond refused to confirm the sale last week, citing council confidentiality.