City of Karratha ‘confident’ Quarter Hotel can still be delivered despite delays to report

There is no sign of when the Quarter Hotel project will begin construction with the City of Karratha and the preferred proponent still in discussions. At the July council meeting, councillors endorsed City officers to proceed with the highest ranked proponent with the intent to negotiate a memorandum of understanding and draft a business plan if necessary. The outcome of discussions with the preferred proponent was expected to come back to the council in October. A spokesperson said the City was hopeful a report would come back to the council soon. “Council remains committed to seeing a hotel developed at The Quarter site and is currently in discussions with the preferred proponent of a request for proposal process to deliver the project,” the City spokesperson said. “Prior to establishing a MoU the proponent initiated a due diligence process, which the City is hopeful will be completed and reported back to council shortly. “While the project has had its challenges the City is confident that it can be delivered and will continue to work to achieve this vision.” The discussions with a new proponent come after several setbacks in the delay-ridden project. The $20 million Quarter Hotel project was thrown into turmoil earlier this year when the then proponent Pacifica Developments wrote to the council that it would be unable to meet the requirement of beginning on-site construction by July 1. Pacifica Developments wrote to the City in April stating it was “untenable” to build the hotel because construction costs had increased dramatically. The council then wrote to Pacifica to formally terminate the memorandum of understanding as of May 13.