Waterfront land sold off for $2.4m

CLARENCE City Council has finally revealed the price of the prime waterfront land it sold to Chinese developers for a controversial hotel and hospitality training school development.

Artist’s impressions of the Kangaroo Bay development. Architects: Circa Morris-Nunn

CLARENCE City Council has finally revealed the price of the prime waterfront land it sold to Chinese developers for a controversial hotel and hospitality training school development.

The $50 million development by multibillion-dollar Chinese petrochemical company Shandong Chambroad and Robert Morris-Nunn’s Hunter Developments was approved by the council in January.

The land the future development will be sited on was originally crown land that was transferred from the State Government to the council. The council sold the land to Chambroad and the sale has now settled.

Clarence Mayor Doug Chipman said the land sale price was $2.44 million — the market value of the site as advised by the state’s Valuer-General.

“The land sale will now allow the next stage of the development to begin, to realise Kangaroo Bay as a focal point for our city,” he said.

“Funds realised from the sale of the land will go towards the enhancement of the Kangaroo Bay precinct.”

Representative of local residents group Kangaroo Bay Voice, Anne Geard, said the outcome was different from what the group initially understood.

“Initially, we were told the developers wouldn’t have to pay anything for this section of land because they had preferred development status for the rest of Kangaroo Bay and they weren’t going to pay anything to the council until the rest of the bay was developed,” she said.

“So to now have a sale price for this part is excellent.”

A revised development application was lodged with council earlier this month after a sustained campaign by concerned residents.

Their concerns were about what they said was a lack of community consultation and the height of the secondary building closest to Cambridge Rd, which would house the hospitality school and apartments.

The new application has cut the height of most of the hospitality school and apartments from 20 to 16.7 metres, pushed the building away from the main Bellerive road and has broken the previous single building into two shorter buildings.

The new application is expected to come before the council next month.