REBUILD DEAD IN THE WATER

A plan to knock down the Yachting Towers building and replace it with a new more modern apartment block appears to have run aground.

OWNERS in Yachting Towers, an apartment building on an enviable site at the northern end of Main Beach, appear to have rebuffed a voyage into uncharted waters.

Their 15-level building, a standout property when it was built by the late Ron McMaster in the 1970s, is in need of a comprehensive rejuvenation.

“Tacking” on that course could be plain sailing for the owners of the 43 apartments, albeit expensive.

However, late last year another option floated up, one that best could be described as a down-and-up one.

It was suggested Yachting Towers could be demolished to make way for a taller more handsome, and larger replacement, thus capitalising on the new town plan which deems the site code assessable.

Key to the idea was the fact that Yachting Towers, completed in 1978, sits on a Macarthur Pde title that is blue-chip enough to make any developer’s eyes water in anticipation.

The 2686sq m property has views, impeded only by some Norfolk pines, north across the Broadwater and to the west.

The building occupies 450sq m of the site, making the land very underused under today’s zoning.

The fact that any new building would be able to have a larger footprint, with no height limit, was the key to the newtower proposal.

The suggestion was that the Yachting Towers owners would do a deal with a developer who would build the tower and provide each of them with a brand new apartment.

In return, the developer would be able to sell off the new tower’s remaining units outside the current footprint – and there could be plenty of them.

The new apartments gained by existing owners would be worth considerably more than their existing ones – the bulk of sales in the past decade have been at less than $600,000.

It seems the “knock-itdown” idea was run past some of Yachting Towers owners (and body corporate) and there was a degree of enthusiasm.

As one resident proclaimed: “It would be like trading in a Falcon for a Ferrari.”

From the outset it was acknowledged that taking the new-tower course would only be navigable if all owners agreed – the idea would sink into the briny if even one owner was not aboard.

As things progressed, it became evident that far more than one owner was “anti” and, understandably, the body corporate isn’t about to rock the boat by pursuing it.

It appears it now is a case of proceeding with Plan A – rejuvenating the tower.

Owners are expected to get, in the wake of a quantity surveyor’s report, an estimate of the cost of bringing Yachting Towers into the modern era.

Each owner might well be asked to tip in $100,000 or more to help pay for the work.