Colin Barnett talks about the sale of the TAB and Ascot Racecourse

TSS · February 2015

Lark hill will be turned into a proper race track. Pinjarra will have night racing. Ascot sold. Belmont to have two tracks with night racing at times in addition to Pinjarra.

DamienWyer · February 2015

So only one question. Where does the money come from ? Perth Racing don't own Ascot and I'm surprised the Premier is so ill informed of that status.

If you were going to sell anything, it would be to abandon Belmont as nothing is going to happen there. Golden River are no closer to commencing that project today than they were five years ago.

LuckyLongshots · February 2015

Selling the TAB to cover Barnett's mis management would be a tragedy!

Remember the TAB belongs to the State and that in turn means it belongs to us...The Taxpayers!

Barnett doesn't own it, he is only voted in to manage it!

In saying that, if you can get a ridiculous price for it and protect the industry in the process, it could be a good thing for the state....I just have a hard time believing that'll be the case.

But if that Billion dollars just pays off debt.....what a shame this state would be.....boom, what boom?

Radman · February 2015

Damien Wyer said:
So only one question. Where does the money come from ? Perth Racing don't own Ascot and I'm surprised the Premier is so ill informed of that status.

If you were going to sell anything, it would be to abandon Belmont as nothing is going to happen there. Golden River are no closer to commencing that project today than they were five years ago.

Perth racing have the lease. Leases can be worth money Damo. That lease may be worth plenty.

Don't get me wrong, I'm a long time critic of the PR committee. It shouldn't have come to this. Hopeless.

DamienWyer · February 2015

Having read the Constitution of the WATC, Perth Racing are only entitled to compensation for any sale of the land and only in respect to buildings. So a better financial sale would be Belmont where they still own some land there, outside of course which they have already sold to Golden River.

I don't think people will travel that far, anything past Larkhill and they are in trouble. I can't see any reason why someone would drive to Pinjarra for night racing, other than once or twice for a novelty. It is a perfect Sunday afternoon course, but not much else.

RIO · February 2015

i am rather sure that Belmont has no commercial value, as all the inside area was zoned as public open space so that the high rise development had the required open space to housing ratio....so another amendment to planning approval - which can take years to get - would need to be got, before it could be sold.

Ascot is the better option. PR would get no compensation on the track - but they do own the carpark and the admin area - as their lease only covers them for holding races at the track. Once racing isn't held there, the lease doesn't exist.

So sell the TAB, finance a new facility from the sale of it, then make cash from flogging off Ascot land, developer fills it with houses, and then get state and local taxes forever......makes sense to me

DamienWyer · February 2015

And what of those who have invested heavily in the local training area Rio ? What becomes of their land holdings ?

This is just another ill thought out bubble of an idea.

RIO · February 2015

their land doubles in value over night under new zoning changes and they are offered discounted finance rates for setting up in the new training/racing facility, until they can sell their Ascot properties and reinvest that money in the new facility..

Unless of course they decide to continue in Ascot for the lifestyle benefits rather than the proximity to the training and racing track.

Or are you suggesting their land will be less valuable if the racetrack isn't there?

paraletic · February 2015

Plain and simple they royally messed it up, Belmont should have gone to the stadium, then we should have put our hand out and demanded an outrageously good deal.

DamienWyer · February 2015

RIO said:
their land doubles in value over night under new zoning changes and they are offered discounted finance rates for setting up in the new training/racing facility, until they can sell their Ascot properties and reinvest that money in the new facility..

Unless of course they decide to continue in Ascot for the lifestyle benefits rather than the proximity to the training and racing track.

Or are you suggesting their land will be less valuable if the racetrack isn't there?

No most likely worth more to developers than what those properties have brought in the last five years. But they are not zoned R100 they are R10, and if this discussion is to have any validity, then those properties should be rezoned prior to any shutdown of facilities.

The other thing to remember is that just because you have land to sell, doesn't mean it will actually sell. Many hundreds of apartments are not selling off the plan all around town.

But like Paraletic suggests, this is a cockup that was predictable, and now it is catastrophic.

RIO · February 2015

This is all hypothetical based on a madmans comment on radio..

A set up like this http://www.pakenhamracing.com.au/ can only benefit racing long time...But PR made sure we missed out last time and with Crazy Colin talking about a $1bil .......price tag for the TAB...it's never going to happen

TheFunkster · February 2015

Buying properties prior to rezoning is how money is made. It's a certainty they will be rezoned if Ascot (lease) is sold

I wish i'd bought a sh!t heap in Coolbellup on 1000m2 a year ago

ICE · March 2015

Martin Prince will ruin this place
:-B

goose · March 2015

The Funkster said:
Buying properties prior to rezoning is how money is made. It's a certainty they will be rezoned if Ascot (lease) is sold
I wish i'd bought a sh!t heap in Coolbellup on 1000m2 a year ago

You usually need a mate on the council or shire to be winning on that "investment".

G'day Punter!

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Colin Barnett talks about the sale of the TAB and Ascot Racecourse

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