Development plan reveals WA tourism leader Paul King’s luxury vision for prime Frenchman Bay waterfront site

A luxury lodge, restaurant, chalets and glamping tents form WA tourism heavyweight Paul King’s long-term vision for his prime holiday accommodation site overlooking Frenchman Bay. A draft local development plan lodged with the City of Albany reveals Mr King’s plans for his 3.2ha site on Lots 1 and 2 Frenchman Bay Road, bought for about $1 million by Mr King’s Frenchman Bay Albany Pty Ltd in January 2021. Mr King is the managing director of Seashells Hospitality Group, the company set to operate a four-star hotel on Middleton Beach. But speaking to the Advertiser in August last year, the former Tourism WA chairman said the Frenchman Bay site would be his own venture with no financial ties to SHG. At the time, Mr King said his family’s connections to Albany — which stretched back to 1914, when his grandfather left Albany on the first Anzac convoy — had inspired him to buy the site 20 years after his first attempt failed. The site has been the target of several proposed tourism ventures in recent decades and is the former home of the Frenchman Bay Caravan Park, established in 1959 and closed in 2006. A local development plan was approved by the City of Albany in 2017, zoning the area for holiday accommodation — specifically 24 villas — a shop and caretaker’s dwelling. A development application was approved by the Southern Joint Development Assessment Panel in 2018 but the developer ultimately withdrew the plans. Mr King has now lodged modifications to the LDP to “create a commercially viable development”. “The acquisition of the Frenchman Bay tourism site by one of the State’s most experienced and awarded tourism developers provides an opportunity to create an outstanding development which will make the most of the special characteristics of the site,” the draft LDP states. “Mr King recognises the unique attributes of the site and proposes to create a development which reflects the very best of developments he has been investigating in Australia and New Zealand.” The project would be delivered in three stages, with the first a “luxury holiday lodge”, aiming to offer “high-end tourist accommodation” with 10-12 bedrooms, a swimming pool, tennis court and maintenance shed located to the western section of Lot 2. “It is intended to open and operate the lodge and gauge the level of support for high-end tourist accommodation in a location which is somewhat remote from all the amenities associated with the Albany CBD,” the application states. “Apart from Matraya at Nanarup, this will be a new higher end tourism offering for Albany and the directors and investors wish to tread carefully. “Interests associated with Paul King are planning to develop, operate and retain the lodge which will take time to be designed and branded.” The lodge takes inspiration from the likes of Saffire Freycinet — a $32m five-star, 20-room luxury resort in Tasmania — and New Zealand’s five-star hotel Blanket Bay on Lake Wakatip. The second stage would be a “signature cafe/restaurant/bar” with an associated “kiosk/shop and reception office” to the east of the site, including plans for lawns, an alfresco area and an amphitheatre. “This area provides the opportunity to develop a quirky, relaxed informal cafe/restaurant/bar/shop to serve local craft beers and wines along with farm to plate food,” the draft LDP states. “It will be situated at the eastern end of Lot 1 with a sheltered northern aspect overlooking King George Sound.” Finally, the third stage includes 25 luxury one-bedroom chalets, a swimming pool, day spa and eight glamping tents between the lodge and the hospitality venue. “The eight glamping tents will be adjacent to the northern boundary where they will enjoy an exclusive location and view on the edge of the ridgeline overlooking King George Sound,” the proposal states. “This stage will only proceed once Stage 1 has been developed and the local tourism market and financial viability has been further researched.” The next stages would be “unlikely to be considered” until the lodge was open for operation, with an on-site community refuge approved for bushfire management and scheme water extended to the site. A key issue identified in the report includes the impact of coastal erosion on the site, expected to affect the site “beyond the 40-year planning horizon”. “The development concept has moved to the utilisation of more adaptable built forms, such as the glamping tents and potentially relocatable chalets,” the draft LDP states. The draft LDP is available for public comment on the City of Albany website until June 15.