800 jobs ”shelved” in Costa decision

Hamish Heard
Developers behind a proposal for a massive North Geelong homemaker centre have conceded defeat and shelved the controversyplagued project.
Quay Developments Corporation chairman Frank Costa said the company had shelved HomeTown indefinitely.
Mr Costa said Quay was considering selling the former Ford site earmarked for the project.
“The real thought right now is to just forget about it,” he said.
QDC directors including Mr Costa and members of Melbourne’s wealthy Smorgan family met on Wednesday to discuss the project’s future.
“It’s unfortunate but a decision was made that they’ll heed the decision made by the independent panel, in its wisdom, and let it sit and see what happens over the next two or three years and decide whether they retain ownership of the property,” Mr Costa said.
“They were satisfied we had given it our best shot and it didn’t get up, so we’ll just sit tight and let the dust settle and maybe decide to just sell the land.”
Mr Costa said he was likely to withdraw his investment in the former Ford site and resign as chairman of Quay Developments Corporation.
“I haven’t quite made up my mind on that but there’s still a very high possibility I will,” he said
The project became mired in controversy after Mr Costa emerged as part of a group of businessmen who funded council candidates at Geelong’s 2004 municipal elections.
An independent ministerial planning panel later found Geelong’s council had ignored its own planning regulations when amending the city’s retail strategy to pave the way for HomeTown.
The project drew fierce opposition from Geelong’s port manager amid fears it would stifle plans to expand portrelated operations.
HomeTown also attracted the ire of several prominent Geelong retailers who feared the scale of the proposal would be disastrous to their businesses.
Mr Costa said it was “a great shame” the project had been shelved on the same day Ford announced 600 jobs would be stripped from the northern suburbs with the closure of its engine plant.
“(HomeTown) would have provided more than 800 ongoing jobs, stopped escape spending and provided a really nice entry into Geelong,” he said.