This one has been on my mind also - hope all is well?

All is fine. We are in the depths of studies with our finance partners which is labourious. Will post news soon.

Christopher,
If you are having trouble with the finances,
and don't have a good credit history,
why not try these fine people?



*Hotels in Cardiff are excluded.

Thank you. Tried them but they are unable to work with the corporate structure we have in mind.

We have therefore had to work the traditonal route with a UK high street bank and an international fund. This however is now done. It is the paperwork that follows which is labourious.

Christopher. Are you still on track for commencing construction in "early 2011"? I'd love to see a start made on this. I've enjoyed seeing the Shard of Glass (the new tower by London Bridge station) shooting up from my bedroom window. I'm sure Paul can't wait to see your more diminutive, although perfectly formed, tower sprouting up from his attic in Grangetown.

heh RC how right you are, although that's the other side of the attic so I'm not sure I'll be able to see it until it's pretty tall, regardless of this and for plenty of positive reasons I can't wait to see Bayscape get underway.

Still no news, I remember being told that the site office would open in October, starting to feel a little worried about this one now.

Do not worry. The financial structuring process is merely dragging. Otherwise all remains in place to commence.

Yep I'm watching that space! it would be superb to get some positive news on this development that I think we all have great enthusiasm about - and it's implications for out 'international' peninsular

I can report status as follows:

- The Fundamentals of the Due Diligence process are going well with the all important valuation (completed last week) supporting the appraisal
- You will agree that there are few local comparables in terms of what we are planning so it is as much a question of valuing Cardiff as a core regional or capital city (on a par with Edinburgh, Dublin etc) than just the Bayscape scheme itself
- The large parts of funding have been agreed. We are however comparing final capital structure options before proceeding. This is a normal part of the process
- We are not rushing this step as we want to ensure that when we get started we can progress fully beyond practical completion to a successful business plan.
- This process is going to take some more weeks yet. This is not to say the scheme is not progressing.
- I will hold an open house meeting to update you all at Cardiff Marine Village as soon as we have completed the due diligence process.

??

I wish people would stop inventing new names to use to post on this. Stick with one or two for which you are known. Its annoying having sniping from unknown people.

Anyway, I think thats a little premature. Whilst there might be problems we have known for quite a while now that work wouldn't start until 2011. Chris has been quieter recently, so perhaps the project has hit problems. But silly and facetious comments aren't really helpful.

Coincidentally, I read an article on the weekend about many Corinthia brand hotels being part owned by no less than our good friend (sorry, that should read 'enemy' post Blair)................... "The Colonel" aka Muammar Gaddafi.

They are in fact about to imminently open one in London , and the article discussed the unlikely scenario that sanctions against Gaddafi might preclude its opening!

I don't think that Bayscape was going to be financed by Libyan investment,although you never know who's funding what these days (the only given being that the the public will foot the bill if the investment banking roulette wheel goes awry).

Just thought I'd share this random snippet of Corinthian related news!

Gaddafi money builds Bay hotel! I can see the headline in the Echo now.

Isn't Mubarak's wife from Ponty? Could he be the shady money man behind the Wilkinson/Lidl combo due to replace the Taff Vale precinct?

Will south Wales be the resting place for deposed Arab dictators? Like Argentina with their numerous on the run Nazi's after the war?

I can just see the headline

"Gadaffi flees to Gurnos"

"Hwyl to oil"

All is still fine.

- We have now finished the Due Diligence process and I am pleased to say that our finance partners are happy with the figures, re:- the project valuation. Cardiff has come out of this valuation process remarkably well, you may remember back in March we were worried about the core regional status and hence the project valuation. This has proved not to be such an issue. The ongoing Maldron hotel project proved invaluable to us, by way of ongoing comparison.
- There is a slight delay regarding the scheduling terms of the loan. I will not bore you, but the finance partners don't just lodge the full amount in the bank account!
- I will hold an open house meeting to update you all about the timescale for the initial ground preparation works. October or November would be my best guess. This year before anyone asks!
- I was very interested in the discussion on Trolls and fake aliases in another thread, all very distrubing don't you know. So may I just add this, Christopher what's really going on and why the delay?

I don't get that last point!?

Nor do I...I did not write it.

Guys, to be clear, I would happily report problems if this was the case. As previously advised we are taking our time to get the capital structure right. Once we start we will push to the end. I am not posting regularly because of the inability to disclose and discuss here (put off by the style of posting). For those that are genuinly interested I am happy to present face to face next week. Evening of 14th April works. In the meantime an article about Bayscape will be in Monday's papers I believe.

Otherwise I would point to the continual expansion of our affairs as evidence we are moving forward. We are now partnering developments around Milford Marina (see www.themarinegroup.co.uk ) and also a Wyndham branded hotel near Geneva. Patience is all that is required.

Thanks Christopher, and that is out of order that someone posted under your alias.

I am concerned at the ease with which people can post on this forum under another person's name. Until now it has happened as an occasional joke. However, there is a risk that someone could post something potentially inflammatory, or libelous, under another person's id.

Thank you. I am happy to debate and disclose in the normal way of things but members should recognise that this is a public environment so there are naturaly some things that I cannot disclose and in my case particularly I do not connect well with cynicism. It is uninteresting and not particularly productive.

I have no reason to post on the forum for the sake of it other than I am aiming to spread the word on Bayscape (the team are rightly proud of the project) and ensure it remains positively viewed in the public eye. This is why we post on the forum. At the point at which this appears to be counter productive we will simply stop posting.

For those that are interested I can happily meet to update face to face at Cardiff Marine Village on Thursday 14th late afternoon. Please let me know if you wish to come.

Hypercelt. I don't like people doing that, either. Its not funny, informative, or entertaining. Its just creepy

Hey i noticed. Ardmore were given a £60 million contract in february to build bayscape.

Building.co.uk

Do we now have a date to break ground?

That's correct. There is much going on.

Article on Walesonline today:

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/2011/04/14/work-due-to-start-on-wales-tallest-building-91466-28518237/

Says start in August or September, and the opening of the hotel pushed back to late 2013. It suggests that the plans have expanded since planning permission to include a larger health spa and more conference facilities. Is this true? Or is this misreporting and simply confirmation of facilities we already knew would be in the hotel?

Article about Bayscape in the latest edition of Penny Post on page 13, along with other articles about Cardiff developments throughout the magazine:

http://www.thepennypost.co.uk/magazine/?dm_i=RSG,F791,3OZO6I,1828G,1

Sorry - the link leads to a publication that has nothing on Bayscape??

Its on pages 12-13..click on it then its like an online book

Thanks Alun. All this modern technology!!

Mind you, I went a little 'red-faced' when I saw the fifth word in the fifth paragraph - hopefully a typo!?

Freud did have something to say about skyscrapers didn't he..

Found this:

http://www.leisureopportunities.co.uk/detail1.cfm?pagetype=detail&subject=news&codeID=257813

Its rather vague but provides some details on the architects and finance, and says construction "could" start in late summer / early autumn.

Hopefully we'll see something more concrete fairly soon.

bump!

Can we have a two year party in August for this thread??

Seeing as this thread is being woken up for a 2nd year birthday party does anyone have any news on the project ?

I am starting to get a negative feeling about this for reasons I won't disclose here. it seems a shame that everything is in place execpt the finance, contracts to build, hoteliers lined up, bars lined up...its the financing of the project that seems to be keeping this project down (excuse the pun).

I am a little frustrated/worried too. Things have gone VERY quiet recently. I'm surprised finance is proving such an issue given that the scheme seems to be largely pre-let. Finance seems to be freeing up for developments outside London recently. A German bank looks set to provide £165 million for a 350,000 square foot office building in Manchester that is being built completely speculatively in a market with quite high vacancies.

I wonder what the problems are? Has the estimated income fallen? Have construction costs risen?

I'm hoping its a short delay but after being bullish on this, and giving the developers the benefit of the doubt, I am getting a bit nervous about this one now. A real shame as it is a cracking proposal and would really boost an area that looks very much like an out-of-town retail park at the moment rather than an urban waterside sports, leisure, retail and residential village.

The silence is slightly ominous. The council are putting out to tender the ice rink/snow box plus residential and commercial soon. If Bayscape was underway and rising above the ground I imagine it would give prospective developers more confidence in the whole ISV project. Not only that but if built as per the spec it would represent one of the few quality new build high rises in Cardiff.

Lets hope its some sort of minor blip and that work will commence in early autumn as per Christophers previous prediction.

it would be good if Christopher could come on here and give us an update. i apprcaite some things cannot be disclosed due to commercial sensitivity, but as Cambo Dai says, its almost pre let, so its very worrying that nothing is progressing.

It was due to start in 2010, then early 2011, now autumn 2011...where have we seen this before Paul?

So it's not just me that's a little worried then ?

If Christopher is reading this I hope things are progressing and that we hear from you soon when you feel you are able to disclose something.

Wyndham Hotel group are going from strength to strength lots of announcement of developments under way. So I doubt the problem lies there.
What has happened in Cardiff over the Two Years and Seven Months since Bayscape PLC was formed is the sheer number of new Hotel beds in Cardiff. Has the figures for potential occupancy rates affected the finances??
If I were providing the money for a Hotel when there was say 2500* beds in a city compared with 4200* beds now, then this must have an affect on income projections.
I suspect that like pubs the hotel business has become much more weekend orientated. Difficult to make money when your Hotel is at 80% at the weekend and 30% during the weekdays.
There is also an awful lot less disposable income around than even two years ago. More tourist though!! (weak pound)

Time will tell......

*anyone got he real figures?

I always had a concern if this would get off the ground, as for the hotel aspect i see no worry for it seeing as Cardiff still lacks a true 5 star hotel (both St Davids and hilton missing the style of a real 5 star hotel).

well we can only hope for the best soon... god forbid we see the 3 year anniversary of Swansea's Meridian tower as the tallest in Wales without any real ground breaking news. Whats going on, Swansea into the Premiership and STILL the tallest building in Wales. This isnt boding well gentlemen..

Well after being in Swansea today they can have the tallest tower if it means we can have a beautiful city center.