Forrest’s proposal includes a 31-room luxury hotel with fine dining, rooftop bar and a day spa.
That other famous billionaire, Taylor Swift, may be partly to blame.
Late last month after three years in the planning process the Town of Cottesloe said no to the proposal from Forrest’s company.
In 2019 Swift brought attention to the Tea House, releasing diary entries with her Lover album, which included this about a visit to Perth in 2012: “We went to this restaurant right on the beach called Indiana. It was built in 1910 and looked like an old fancy hotel. It’s one of the most beautiful places I’ve been with old world arches and moldings, antique tables and big French doors opening out to views of azure blue ocean.”
The problem is the Instagramable building actually dates from 1996, when it was rebuilt to pay homage to the British colonial architecture of the original Centenary Pavilion that stood on the site from 1929 to 1983. Nobody corrected Swift’s version of history and it has featured prominently in tourism campaigns for WA and has become a mecca for selfies since then.
The much-loved Tea House was granted a heritage listing in June 2021 as part of the Cottesloe Beach Precinct. The reassessment of the value of the Tea House included this: “The Indiana Tea House is an iconic landmark in the precinct that is well recognised by the local and wider community as well as international tourists and is the most recent manifestation of the distinctive tradition of built form in this location on the beachfront.”
The Forrest team has expressed disappointment with the decision to decline the redevelopment plan, but the council has said it hopes to continue to work with the Forrest family company, Fiveight, which has a 10-year lease on the Crown land, granted in 2019.
“To be very clear, the Town of Cottesloe fully supports the redevelopment of the Indiana Tea House – and we would welcome a revised vision for the site that works within the parameters set out by council,” said Cottesloe mayor Lorraine Young the day after the council rejected the plan, late last month.
In the same digital statement, she said the decision not to proceed with the current proposal was carefully considered and was based on three key reasons – a lack of clarity around financial impact and risk, the level of community benefit it would deliver and a failure to align with the town’s endorsed Foreshore Masterplan.
Cottesloe, an affluent suburb 12km southwest of Perth, has developed an international reputation for its beachfront, but currently has limited accommodation options and the tourism sector is believed to favour Forrest’s development.
From a business events perspective, a 31-room three-storey boutique hotel with its restaurant and public spaces would be attractive to the small corporate meetings market and as an off-site venue for dinners and incentives.
The project is said to be worth about $15 million and would boost the local economy by attracting 600-700 visitors a day.
