Myer Update - Some Details and Stages

Small update in today's Mercury. Main gist:

Mr Crawford, of Architects Designhaus, was reported as saying that of the three ­stages, the first would be open by the end of next year, if not sooner. 

“The current works on the hole in the ground will be followed by Myer decamping from Murray St into the Liverpool St site,” the minutes say. 

“The second stage will be the demolition of the Myer building, followed by the construction of the hotel. 

“Myer will occupy the first two floors of the new building in Liverpool St, with speciality stores above that, connected by escalators from the basement floor. The old Fletcher Jones store ... will become the hotel foyer.

UTAS CBD Student Housing Complex Updated Plans

Updated plans for the student housing complete in Melville and Elizabeth streets have been released. There are a lot of files so here are a few:

• Plans
• A few others

There's also a brief article in The Mercury.

Hobart City Council Refutes Claim of Cable Car Leak

Media release by Mayor Damon Thomas, in part:

Responding to allegations from the Mount Wellington Cable Car Company, the Lord Mayor said, “The information about the height of the proposed towers was not confidential. The Mount Wellington Cable Car Company had shown plans of a proposed 75 metre tower in a public presentation on 16 April 2014.”

 Regarding the document as a whole:

The Lord Mayor further added that the Mount Wellington Cable Car Company provided a confidential ‘Backgrounder’ document in late April. However, on 13 May this year, Mr Bold went on a local radio station to announce the existence of the document, thereby legally waiving the requirement that the document and its content remain confidential. 

Update 10/07/2014: Official media release now up.

Mount Wellington Cable Car Tower Heights

The cable car tower heights appear to have been leaked, presumably by someone inside Hobart City Council.

They range from a 75m tower at the bottom to a 36m tower above the Organ Pipes.

There's much online discussion on Facebook and elsewhere, with supporters focussing on the leak and alleged "lies" by groups publicising the content. Yes, that doesn't make a lot of sense. If it's a leak, presumably the content is accurate.

The original ABC article is all that's worth linking to as follow up articles generally cover the witch-hunt to find the origin of the leak.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-07-06/fears-mount-wellington-cable-car-towers-tall-as-wrest-point/5575034

Other sites all have their own bias. Those opposed to the cable car have posted misleading photos with images of buildings on the mountain where pylons or towers would be, along with other allegations and implications that don't bare repeating without evidence.

Those supporting it generally don't like any dissent so responses tend to range from personal attacks to sweeping generalisations about nebulous groups for which they've chosen labels to marginalise, belittle and denigrate.

From shonky to nasty, the public process of this development isn't pretty. We've seen what happens with such divisive projects in the past.