Stadium hotel row But Hill gift developer says no special treatment
THE proponent of a hotel next to Townsville’s new stadium who donated to Mayor Jenny Hill’s election campaign, Focus Pacific, has denied they are receiving any financial incentives to develop the project on council land.
It comes as the council refuses to divulge the terms of Focus Pacific’s planned lease and rival hoteliers question the process and the viability of building a hotel in what they say is an already oversupplied accommodation market.
According to electoral commission returns, Focus Pacific donated $ 5000 to Team Jenny Hill three days before the March 2016 election but not to the rival Jayne Arlett team.
Last year, Focus Pacific was awarded an exclusive right to deal with the council over the land on the western side of the stadium site now being built on land fronting Ross Creek.
Focus Pacific CEO Michael Graham said yesterday there was “absolutely no connection” between the donation and the hotel project.
He had made the decision to donate simply because he was “very confident” Team Jenny Hill was the one that was “going to turn Townsville around”, he said.
Also, the only benefit they would gain would be the certainty of planning approvals provided through the Townsville Waterfront Priority Development Area which covers the site, Mr Graham said.
That was the same as any project in the PDA may receive, he said.
Members of the Townsville Major Accommodation Providers group have raised concern over the arrangements and said they were assured by council officers the lease would be offered at “fair market value” but that any details were “commercial in confidence”.
The council also refused to provide details of the lease to the Townsville Bulletin yesterday.
One hotel operator Troy Scott said visitation to Townsville had remained static for the past decade while more than 300,000 room nights annually had been added through hotel and apartment development.
Another operator, who did not want to be named, said encouraging another hotel in the current oversupplied market was a “big mistake”.
But Cr Hill, in an email obtained by the Bulletin, she said she hoped the economy would have improved sufficiently by 2020 to sustain the new hotel. “I hope that by 2020 the Townsville economy has improved significantly and that all accommodation offerings in Townsville are back up to high occupancy rates as they have been previously,” Cr Hill said.
Focus Pacific hopes to begin construction in January 2019.