Fini Group cancels State Administrative Tribunal meeting amid reconsideration of Margaret River hotel project

The developers of a proposed hybrid hotel slated for the Margaret River town centre — touted as the first of its kind in Australia — pulled the plug on Friday’s tribunal hearing and are now reconsidering the whole project. Fini Group spokesperson Jamie Fini told the Times volatility in the tourism market rather than the project’s dotted path to approval was the main factor in the decision to defer the August 2 hearing. “The commercial success of tourism developments in the South West is always finely balanced because they face a range of volatile and steadily increasing costs,” Mr Fini said. “This means that developers must be cautious in their approach and prudent in their decisions to press the start button.” The proposal for a 32-room hotel with bar and function space abutting Margaret River’s Fearn Avenue was scheduled to go before the State Administrative Tribunal again after a previous “invitation” from SAT for all parties to reconsider the previous approval that included demands for compensation for a shortfall in parking. That reconsideration by WA’s Regional Development Assessment Panel occurred in early June, though a SAT spokesperson said that outcome did not represent a final decision. At the June 7 RDAP meeting, the developers’ lawyer cited the original Shire of Augusta-Margaret River planning department’s reasons not to support the project — because new parking could not be added in the vicinity — as justification to waive cash-in-lieu parking requirements. However, their recommendation was overturned by shire councillors last year in a Responsible Authority Report which waived the need for any extra parking. Councillors at the time feared the project might fall through if prohibitive conditions were imposed. The developers claimed their guests would be eco-conscious travellers not reliant on car travel. The developers described the hybrid hotel as a passion project with tight margins, but RDAP still insisted on compensation for the missing 17 bays. Mr Fini told the Times the latest news would be communicated to the shire and other stakeholders but he stopped short of saying it was the end for the project imagined as a carbon net-positive offering. “Smaller scale sustainable developments like the one we have proposed are very finely balanced in their ability to achieve a reasonable return on the investment over a long period of time,” he said. “Whilst we are passionate supporters of sustainable tourism in the region, we must be cautious when deciding to proceed as we will be competing for many years with a wide range of low-cost providers across both private residences and historic hotels and B&Bs.” In reassessing the project’s viability, the potential cash-in-lieu compensation was cited along with increasing construction costs and the effects of the existing short-stay market. The developers would be “continuing discussions on what we believe is achievable on this site to support the local tourism sector”.