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November 7, 2008
King Alfred plans are killed off
The Argus
The high-profile Frank Gehry-designed development project in Hove, England, has been given the heave-ho, a victim of world economic turmoil.
The £290 million King Alfred development is dead.
The Frank Gehry designed scheme planned for the Hove seafront was declared “finished” tonight by the man behind the project.
It comes after years of argument over whether the bold towers would either revitalise the city or become a blot on the landscape.
...Without a financial backer, the development agreement signed in November 2004 is expected to expire at midnight on Sunday, leaving Frank Gehry’s first project in England dead in the water.
The scheme, which included the construction of 751 homes in 11 buildings of up to 98 metres high, was thrown into doubt in July when Dutch bank ING withdrew its financial support because falling house prices no longer made it financially viable.
Posted by eric at November 7, 2008 4:54 PM