PLANS for a £330 million finance centre on the Waterfront have been backed by the States
Yesterday Members approved by 40 votes to six the planning part of the proposal, which seeks to lower Route de la Libération between Gloucester Street and Liberty Wharf and build a grid-style development of office blocks, shops, a car park and a winter garden over the road and the Esplanade car park.
The States will make between £50 million and £75 million out of the deal, and developers Harcourt will pay to lower the road at an estimated cost of £45 million.
This morning an attempt at a reference back over claims of alleged civil court cases involving Irish-based-developers Harcourt was unsuccessful and the House went onto approve the terms of the deal by 37 votes to five, with one abstention.
6 Article Comments
what are you doing tojersey,taking one side of the island to the other.for what? at the expense of tourists and locals,for the big men too make a killing,and kill jersey,keep jersey as it is and get tourists back,else it will be taken over,and i am sure no one wants to be occupied again!
My concern is that any builing area between the main shops and the waterfront needs to be have open spaces and access between these two assests, if a major building works are carried out here with dense office blocks will this not cut off the waterfront to the main shopping centre? It seems to me that the States are again selling off lovely Jersey for the sake of economic gain, don’t they know that theres are credit crunch going on in the UK and the rest of the world. Don’t let them get carried away, think wider!! - seek outside views always, otherwise wrong decisions can be made, unintentionally, but they can have a drastic impact on Jersey.
Absolutely shocking idea, i wonder if the states would back the idea if they were not going to make a fortune out of it! Why not use that area for shops and resaurants, so tourists and the people of Jersey can appreciate what could be a fantastic area for the island. Everywhere you look now there are offices and “luxury” flats being built, so please States members, try not to destroy the whole island because of your incompetence and greed!
Im all for these plans. Yes, it might take a while for completion but I think it will help bring Jersey up to date. It will be something different, something amazing that will bring Jersey right up to speed. It has a beautiful marina area nearby and gardens, I think it will be great when it is all done, especially when Castle Quay, the new Weighbridge area, etc, will be finished too. Hey, it may even look like a mini Monte Carlo. For those against it, are you really going to lose sleep over the prospect of Jersey becoming more developed. It’s not just tourists that it will entice. Jobs will be created, there will be lots of leisurely things to do, and the money will be rolling into Jersey. People who prefer the nature and scenery can always take a trip to one of the many other wonderfully idyllic parts of the island. They’re not destroying anything, just bringing in more opportunities for choice.
Tourism has never high on this single party governments list.With everything from high airport costs to gst,its cheaper to get 2 weeks in spain than 3 days in Jersey.Although i agree this waterfront development is needed to get rid of that horrible dual carrigeway what if this irish company harcourt goes bust in the global credit crunch in light of its us deals half way through ,who looses.If a new contract has to be drawn up and how much and how long can islanders put up with a major hold up on the islands busiest road network.
Another hairbrained and costly upheaval for Jersey taxpayers…. The general sentiment of most people and investors is that there is very little benefit in holding bank accounts, portfolios, etc (thus finance) in Jersey as it is over regulated, etc, etc - so these buildings may well lie empty like some of the other office buildings in town. Why dont they do something useful and stop wasting money….