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Hotel and luxury apartment plans revealed for coal exchange

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Sleepwhenyourdead88

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Re: Hotel and luxury apartment plans revealed for coal excha

PostSat Apr 09, 2016 9:24 am

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales ... r-11160631

Here we have a labour MP stressing his concerns on the 40 million pound re development of the coal exchange stating he doesn't want to see anything done to this building that could adversely impact it's importance to cardiff and Wales. What does he mean by 'importance'? Under labour not an ounce of effort has been put in to save this piece of our history. We have a chance here to have a real impact on this area of town and all this goon can do is splatter out hypocritical nonsense. I mean do we want to save the coal exchange or not?
**Revolution is exhausting**
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Cen

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Re: Hotel and luxury apartment plans revealed for coal excha

PostSat Apr 09, 2016 10:40 am

There's a petition going round now:

https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/ ... 1460153946

"Cease communications with a company who's director was banned from being a company director for 8 years to essentially 'give' the Coal Exchange away and turn a globally unique building into a alcohol fuelled haven for stag parties and hen do's.

To have an official tendering process where council officials aren't vetted by the 'sole developer' out of rumoured 'dozens.'

To have fair planning consent with FULL public participation (section 106)."

Silly, in my opinion. "Alcohol fuelled haven for stag parties and hen do's" is sensationalist at best. What do these people propose should happen to the building? It's literally rotting from the core. Would they prefer it just stands there? The only outcome of that will be the inevitable wrecking ball...

I really don't like online petitions. It's just lazy and people have very rarely done any research at all before they click that virtual "Sign" button. They probably just saw someone share it on Facebook. Online petitions have taken all seriousness out of petitions as a whole.
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Cen

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Re: Hotel and luxury apartment plans revealed for coal excha

PostSat Apr 09, 2016 11:07 am

A little off topic but does anybody know what that horrible steel framework near the Coal Exchange is or was supposed to be? Surely it's time it was taken down.
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penarth bloke

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Re: Hotel and luxury apartment plans revealed for coal excha

PostSat Apr 09, 2016 11:44 am

Sleepwhenyourdead88 wrote:http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/mp-raised-serious-concerns-over-11160631

Here we have a labour MP stressing his concerns on the 40 million pound re development of the coal exchange stating he doesn't want to see anything done to this building that could adversely impact it's importance to cardiff and Wales. What does he mean by 'importance'? Under labour not an ounce of effort has been put in to save this piece of our history. We have a chance here to have a real impact on this area of town and all this goon can do is splatter out hypocritical nonsense. I mean do we want to save the coal exchange or not?

I understand what you are saying, but it's right to ask such questions in the light of recent developments where due scrutiny has failed.
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RandomComment

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Re: Hotel and luxury apartment plans revealed for coal excha

PostSat Apr 09, 2016 1:27 pm

The petition is rather bombastic and over-the-top. I imagine many of those signing are local residents who are wary about the impact of a hotel group that does seem to cater to stag-and-hen parties as a major part of its business. That is understandable but I do it find it a bit objectionable that its being dressed up as concern about the structural integrity and survival of the coal exchange. The building is much more at risk if it remains in limbo. More importantly, its a cost and liability sitting on Cardiff Council's books.

The petition complains that it is being "given away" to the developers. Cardiff council claims that the deal allows them to recoup the money they have spent on the Coal Exchange. Is this a good deal for the taxpayer? I don't know enough to say, but the petition signers should probably realise that these old historic buildings can sometimes have very low values (even negative ones) given the costs of maintenance, conversion, etc. Businesses and properties do get sold for nominal values when the liabilities associated with them are large.

What does seem a bit stranger is a lack of competitive tendering process. However, there could be good reasons for that too. I'm sure the petition signers/makers would not just want it sold to the highest bidder. They might not have the most appropriate plans. They may also not be the one with the most viable plan - and it could end up collapsing and back on the council's books. So a lot of due diligence on potentially dozens of bids might need to be done.

Doing something informally, might then end up being more cost effective for the council. You can do due diligence on just one or a handful of proposals.

How much of the building will the 200 suites and associated facilities take up? Is there still going to be business space in there as well?
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Frank

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Re: Hotel and luxury apartment plans revealed for coal excha

PostSat Apr 09, 2016 2:53 pm

I thought they were doing wedding receptions?

My brother got married at a former riding estate with stables. I think you could do something similar with the coal exchange but might stag hen parties interfere? Maybe they will just take block bookings for weddings and be a standard hotel at all other times.
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Ash

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Re: Hotel and luxury apartment plans revealed for coal excha

PostSat Apr 09, 2016 4:08 pm

Cen wrote:A little off topic but does anybody know what that horrible steel framework near the Coal Exchange is or was supposed to be? Surely it's time it was taken down.


It was meant to be apartments. It's on the market as an 'uncompleted development'!

RandomComment wrote: The petition complains that it is being "given away" to the developers. Cardiff council claims that the deal allows them to recoup the money they have spent on the Coal Exchange. Is this a good deal for the taxpayer? I don't know enough to say, but the petition signers should probably realise that these old historic buildings can sometimes have very low values (even negative ones) given the costs of maintenance, conversion, etc. Businesses and properties do get sold for nominal values when the liabilities associated with them are large.


Cardiff council haven't 'given away' anything. They can't - for the simple reason that they don't own the building. As I understand it, the ownership of the Exchange currently rests with the Crown estate following Macob's collapse. I should imagine that the council is acting as the agent of the Crown in seeking a future for the building. Any profit after the Council's costs were met would pass to the Crown.

I'm not sure about the ownership of Baltic House. It's currently occupied by WCVA and houses a number of third sector organisations. It may be that WCVA own it or they could just be the head lessor sub-letting to other tenants
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RandomComment

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Re: Hotel and luxury apartment plans revealed for coal excha

PostMon Apr 11, 2016 6:19 pm

Zach wrote:PS If I read another story about that F*****g million pound cheque I will scream, for all we know there could have been ones written for £1.2m, £6.1m, $5.8 but it was the first time someone wrote one for £1,000,000 0s 0d :lol:


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-35997410

Another mention of that cheque again today!
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RandomComment

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Re: Hotel and luxury apartment plans revealed for coal excha

PostMon Apr 11, 2016 6:22 pm

And yes, thats another of those articles that also harks back to the multicultural Tiger Bay. Now, I'm not qualified to say how much of what these sorts of articles say is true.. but I can't help but think there is some rose-tinting going on...
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Simon__200

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Re: Hotel and luxury apartment plans revealed for coal excha

PostThu Apr 14, 2016 11:21 am

Sleepwhenyourdead88 wrote:http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/mp-raised-serious-concerns-over-11160631

Here we have a labour MP stressing his concerns on the 40 million pound re development of the coal exchange stating he doesn't want to see anything done to this building that could adversely impact it's importance to cardiff and Wales. What does he mean by 'importance'? Under labour not an ounce of effort has been put in to save this piece of our history. We have a chance here to have a real impact on this area of town and all this goon can do is splatter out hypocritical nonsense. I mean do we want to save the coal exchange or not?

Understand what you're saying, but it's right to be cautious. I know the building is currently festering and that this might be its last chance of salvation, but it's correct to consider every development regardless.

I remember when historic The Westgate Hotel in Newport closed down and became boarded up and deapidated. Then a so called posh nightclub was hailed as the building's saviour. I went inside to take a look one evening after it had been open for a while, and was shocked to see the state of the place. The carpet squelched and it was clear that not a penny of maintenance had been spent on the upkeep since the opening. The ornate banisters were chipped and damaged and one of the once beautiful wooden carvings was languishing in pieces nearby on the floor.

It closed again soon after that. Presumably the nightclub up and left to exploit something else.

At first glance this looks like a great development, nothing like what happened to the poor Westgate Hotel, but scrutiny is still important.
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