REACHING the lock-up stage on the construction of a $6.5 million, 76-room student accommodation boarding house on the site of the former Bathurst Squash Centre has developer Rob Reece breathing a sigh of relief.
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It was only a couple of months ago that thieves stole about $10,000 worth of copper pipe and electrical wire from the building site at the corner of Havannah and Howick streets.
That was a setback Mr Reece didn’t need, but he’s still forging ahead at a breakneck pace thanks to his loyal band of local tradies including builder Nick Cook and excavator and plumber Paul Seaman.
“It’s an important milestone for us [the lock-up stage] because of what happened. Since then we’ve been able to install CCTV cameras in the buildings, so we’ve got a pretty sophisticated security system in place.
“At this stage we’re really going hard to be able to open up 32 rooms in time for the V8 races in October. That will really be touch and go, but I feel we might just come up a bit short,” he said.
“Barring that, we are still on track for a November completion date. That means we will probably look to taking in our first tenants when the uni students return for 2014. We’re not far off starting to do the marketing for the development, though.”
Mr Reece, a Windsor-based developer, is aiming to attract the student market.
He said he learned about the availability of the former squash court site from a couple of his mates who assured him Bathurst was a go- ahead city that was worthy of investment.
“So we did our homework and our reading of the market was that there was a demand for accommodation of this type. The uni supplies about 1500 beds for first years [students], but there seemed to be a shortage for second and third year students.
“After the first year they tend to move to town and end up in a house, which can sometimes be detrimental to the neighbours. We thought here we have an opportunity to have a purpose-built facility, not something makeshift.”
Mr Reece said the boarding house would cost about $6.5 million.
“It’s a serious investment in Bathurst’s future,” he said. “In saying that, we aren’t the type of company that comes into a place and runs roughshod over people.
“This is a personal project of mine. I’ve always wanted to do something different. Hopefully it will be a super fund for myself and my wife.
“We’re planning on each room having an ensuite because we don’t want that communal type of arrangement. You could say it’s going to be a little bit better style of accommodation for the kids.”
