CardiffWalesMap

Actually, there were other, more reliable (I know that's a relative concept in property development) developers who came and looked at the place but they were honest upfront about wanting grants to help them renovate - and frankly that would have been less expensive in the long run. Kenwright and his room-selling scheme were dodgy as hell but the Council officers loved him. I do understand that the Council wanted a least cost option to keep it standing, but why didn't they push Kenwright to keep the promises he made to them about things like securing the roof first? Still, on the bright side, at least this hotel hasn't burnt down like the one in Belfast.
Also, this may be a daft question, but if (as Simon says above) the Council didn't own the building, how did they manage to sell it to Kenwright in the first place?

I've said this before but might it not be best to demolish some of the building and retain a core structure?

Frank wrote:I've said this before but might it not be best to demolish some of the building and retain a core structure?

Does it being Grade II* listed make that difficult? I'm not sure what the rules are around it.

There's a new article on WalesOnline - the administrators have walked away - doesn't look good.

https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wale ... n-18717740

https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wale ... y-18744759

More news today...

I'm not surprised Mr Govier doesn't want people to focus on "what went wrong" as they might remember he was one of Kenwright's best chums - squiring him round Welsh Labour events. They were observably close. More news on his bid to "take over" the Exchange here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-541 ... JctmXJixE0

lucky wrote:I'm not surprised Mr Govier doesn't want people to focus on "what went wrong" as they might remember he was one of Kenwright's best chums - squiring him round Welsh Labour events. They were observably close. More news on his bid to "take over" the Exchange here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-541 ... JctmXJixE0

What a ridiculous post! At the time this was the best chance to secure the long term future of the entire building complex. We are, even now, in a better situstion than the building having been left in a state of worsening dilapidation for years.

Would you have preferred to have lost the entire building complex then? Because eventual demolition was the only ultimate prospect on the horizon if a deal like this could not have been brokered. What was your alternative solution exactly, given the cash-strapped state of local authorities, already having to cut services? People on this board were general relieved when the deal was announced as it was considered possibly the last chance to save the building, and we should be at least thankful that it's not now a heap of rubble.

Hurling insults won't help. There were other developers initially interested, but their more realistic plans were not liked. Some people pushed very hard for Kenwright while others tried to point out that this was likely to be the outcome. It's a very good thing that some people have had jobs for a while, but we are now left in an even more complex legal ownership position, the back of the building is still falling off and a lot of small investors have lost their savings. So please excuse me if I'm watching this with a beady eye and a good memory.

lucky wrote:Hurling insults won't help. There were other developers initially interested, but their more realistic plans were not liked. Some people pushed very hard for Kenwright while others tried to point out that this was likely to be the outcome. It's a very good thing that some people have had jobs for a while, but we are now left in an even more complex legal ownership position, the back of the building is still falling off and a lot of small investors have lost their savings. So please excuse me if I'm watching this with a beady eye and a good memory.

Where have I hurled any insults?

And I don't believe that there were any alternative developers interested in saving the entire building complex at all. This was the only one.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-54240543

Looks like they got the 3am licence.