Batavia Motor Inne might finally get finished

The City of Greater Geraldton has issued a new building permit for construction to start once again on the Batavia Motor Inne site that has been left derelict for more than five years. The original building permit lapsed in December 2013 due to lack of progress on site and an intent to issue a demolition notice was issued by the City.

The owners have been working through the outstanding issues with their project team and this time utilised a private certifier/fire engineer over the past six months to come up with a compliant Certified Building application.

City CEO, Ken Diehm, said the building permit has been tied to the construction timetable.

“The building permit has been conditioned to ensure that construction is continuous and timely,” he said.

“Work stalled towards the beginning of last year and was to resume in February this year but it didn’t happen. Enough is enough.

“Council has had enough of derelict buildings in the City, and if the conditions of this permit are not adhered to, or work stops without a valid reason, the City still has the option to issue a demolition order,” said Mr Diehm.

He said he expects the proponent to apply for incentives as part of the CBD Revitalisation Program adopted by Council in May 2014 to drive desirable redevelopment in the CBD, which could see a periodic rates exemption.

“If the proponent seeks concessions under the CBD Revitalisation Strategy they would be the second company to do so, and would mean the incentives program could prove an effective tool to revitalise our City,” said Mr Diehm.

Work is expected to start in the next two weeks and the anticipated completion date of the 78 room accommodation and function centre is May/June 2015.

Herald Build Pty Ltd is the company undertaking the refurbishment and a nominated building supervisor will manage the project, with a local foreman based permanently on site.