Jordanian businessman behind Perth World Trade Centre proposal buying WA property
Updated
The wealthy Jordanian businessman behind the $1.85 billion World Trade Center Perth proposal supported by the State Government has been snapping up prized pieces of local property during the past few years.
The State Government announced the proposal to build the city's tallest building, which includes a 75-storey tower, convention centre a, apartments and a shopping precinct, had received stage one approval on Wednesday.
The development would stretch across 1.9 hectares of railway land between Perth and McIver stations.
Curious investment destination
Perth seems an unusual investment destination for the Palestine-born insurance and banking magnate, whose business interests are largely concentrated in the Middle East.
The best explanation anyone has been able to give to invest here is that his children were partly educated here and he really likes Perth.
A family company of Ghazi Abu Nahl spent $4 million buying the 11-hectare historic Mandalay property in the Swan Valley in November 2015.
Mandalay was home to early WA explorer Sir John Septimus Roe, as well as art benefactor Claude Hotchin.
ASIC documents also list the Caversham property as the principal place of business for at least two of Mr Abu Nahl's companies, but his spokesman Chris Codrington said the businessman had no plans to live there.
When the 71-year-old is in Perth, he chooses to stay at his Minora Road house in the wealthy riverside suburb of Dalkeith.
But perhaps his most strategic investment was the $50 million purchase of the former Myer Megamart site on Beaufort St in March 2016.
It is here where Mr Abu Nahl could build the World Trade Centre Perth development if negotiations with the State Government to buy state land do not come to fruition.
"There's a lot of water to flow under the bridge," Mr Codrington said. "We've got to talk at length with government."
Undoubtedly, Perth will prove to be one of his more peaceful business destinations, considering he plans to develop world trade centres in volatile Middle Eastern hotspots like Aleppo in Syria and Basra in Iraq.
But he still has potential conflict ahead of him in getting the WA Government to agree on a suitable price for the 1.9 hectares of land between the Perth and McIver train stations he wants to buy under the unsolicited bids process.
It has been four years since he first bought the licence to develop a world trade center in Perth, according to Mr Codrington, who is registered with the WA Government as a lobbyist for Mr Abu Nahl's company World Trade Centre Holdings (Cyprus).
Since then, he has been pitching his plans to develop a world trade centre on various pieces of WA government land.
Back in 2014 Mr Abu Nahl met with the Metropolitan Redevelopment Authority to discuss his proposal to build the centre on the old East Perth power station site, which had not been listed for sale.
"The East Perth Power Station is a significant site and attracts occasional unsolicited interest from the private sector and potential developers," MRA chief executive Kieran Kinsella said at the time.
Premier's change of heart
The proposal was dismissed by Mr Barnett, but something has obviously changed his mind.
Mr Codrington confirmed Mr Abu Nahl met with Mr Barnett in late 2015.
Just weeks after the WA Government began to accept unsolicited bids to develop state-owned land in January 2016, Mr Abu Nahl submitted a new proposal to build the centre near the Perth train station.
This week, Mr Barnett announced it was the first to get past the initial stage of the bids process, and would proceed to the detailed assessment stage, after which, if successful, the developer would negotiate a price with the Government.
But the process of getting stage one approval took longer than expected and Mr Codrington said he was employed mid last year to "help get this sorted".
At the official announcement of the 75-storey development earlier this week, Mr Codrington and his client were seen chatting to Mr Barnett.
"Nice to see you again," the businessman said to the Premier.
Later, Mr Barnett explained why he had initially not supported a world trade centre development.
"At the time there was the suggestion that the State Government should help to fund the centre," he said.
"I was making the point, which is true, is that it's primarily a property development — a very major one — but it's also one with international links."
But he said the Government was attracted by the new proposal because of the innovative way the railway land would be developed.
"This was not seen by Government as a site that could be developed. It was just seen as part of the rail system," he said.
"They've taken an entrepreneurial look. They like its location on the rail line, it's in a central city location near the cultural centre - it's got all those advantages."
Further negotiations are expected to be carried out in the coming months.
Topics: urban-development-and-planning, government-and-politics, perth-6000
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