Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Tinkler rides to Newcastle's rescue - again

I have to say that it's helpful to have a local billionaire.

I have written about the future of the Newcastle CBD a number of times on this blog. I am not a Novocastrian, but as a New Englander interested in Newcastle as the North's big city, I have mourned the loss of Newcastle's CBD as a vibrant centre.

Having saved the Jets and Knights, it appears that Newcastle billionaire is interested in the CBD, with Buildev apparently acquiring a large section of the CBD from GPT. Buildev is not just owned by Mr Tinkler, but he is the person attention has focused on.

Neil Goffet's Newcastle Herald story,Tinkler town: mall and all, provides the details.

Have a browse through the comments. There are a lot of them. The sense I get is an overwhelming feeling of relief that someone is actually doing something after failures by Newcastle City Council, much more by the Sydney Government, to actually do anything to help. I hope that Mr Tinkler and his colleagues can deliver. 

2 comments:

Greg said...

Hi Jim.

If it was left up to the state government in Sydney, the CBD of Newcastle would be left to the tumbleweeds. It was only ever going to take someone from the city with the vision and the financial muscle.

It is yet to be seen just what the Buildev group have planned. But individuals such as Nathan Tinkler don't come along every day. To have someone who is not just marginally wealthy but also has the vision and passion for the town is indeed a fortunate thing.

I wonder if he would be interested in supporting northern self government?

Jim Belshaw said...

Newcastle is indeed luck! It would be very helpful if he did support self government.