My apologies for posting no
update last week. I was flat out on the sofa surrounded by flu medications,
tissues and cough suppressants.
Overnight, about a week ago, a
building on Mann Street Gosford vanished. One afternoon it was there and the
next morning it was gone.
It was the bar with the palms
at the front and the narrow Little Barber Shoppe beside it. Some locals may
remember the black and white photos of old Gosford in the barber shop.
In the photo above, the
buildings on either side of the site are the Imperial Arcade (left) and the
Gosford Central Plaza (right). The white 4-wheel-drive in the intersection is
on Erina Street and the Hotel Gosford is behind it. We are looking roughly north up Mann Street, towards North Gosford.
The screens across the front of
the site say “Bonython Tower”. That’s the official name of the proposed
building known locally as the Singo tower, after its instigator the well-known
Australian businessman John Singleton. In late 2016 or early 2017, there was an
article in the local newspaper about Singo’s desire to kick-start the new
Gosford, the high-rise Gosford we’re seeing the start of now.
(Incidentally, you can see Singo's clifftop house in Sydney in Cleverman on the ABC on Thursday nights. http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/tv-and-radio/cleverman-abcs-indigenous-superheroes-in-eerie-dystopian-drama-starring-iain-glen-and-frances-oconnor-20160518-goy0ry.html)
This tower has been publicised
as “mixed use...including restaurant, offices, and shop top housing” with
luxury apartments. Views on the southern side of the tower should have views
not just down the length of Brisbane Water but perhaps also into Pittwater in
Sydney. The site is a mere 3 minutes’ walk from the railway station so it would
be no hardship to live there and commute to Sydney for that luxury income
needed to buy into such an apartment tower.
As for the amount of shadow
Singo’s tower will throw over Gosford, and how much the other towers to come will
throw over it, only time will tell. Certainly, it and they will change the feel
of Gosford enormously.
I had intended to collect some
snaps of the Singo tower side of Mann Street one day last week but went home early
instead. Not that I would have seen the old building coming down anyway, with
it being demolished in a single night, according to several people who catch the
bus nearby.
The site of the Bonython Tower is in blue.
Behind the site, Paul Lane runs
between the southern side of the Imperial Arcade and Gosford Central Plaza on
the left. The very edge of Paul Lane can be seen in this photo where the orange
feet of the blue fence are and in the photo below.
Clean up takes longer
than demolition.
Across the street, facing the
site, we can see a bank, a bakery, a finance office and, to the right, a few
other small shops with two floors of offices above. Behind them we can see the
Council’s multi-storey carpark, another multi-storey carpark (the railway runs
between the carparks) then Showground Road, Kendall Street, a small block of
commuter apartments and Presidents Hill.
Links
I will be taking many more photos and so, over time, we'll see
what else changes and what doesn't, what we don't like and what we do like.
Come back next week for more photos and maps. Or enter your
email address in the inbox pinger thing below or in the sidebar.
