news, local-news, geocon, geocon controversy, Nick Georgalis, Caroline Le Couteur, Grand Central Towers, canberra light rail, canberra tram, Civic to woden

Geocon has rubbished claims it is misleading Canberrans about the speed and frequency of light rail to help sell apartments in Woden, as it accused the Greens' Caroline Le Couteur of pushing the argument to boost her profile. Geocon managing director Nick Georgalis said if the Greens planning spokeswoman really had Canberra's best interests at heart, she would be focused on delivering the light rail expansion, tackling outlaw gangs and "ever increasing suburban gun violence" - not "standing in the middle of Woden with a stop watch". The extraordinary attack came after Ms Le Couteur raised concerns on Monday about a video Geocon had produced to market its Grand Central Towers project in Woden. In the video, Mr Georgalis said future residents would be able to "walk out the front door, jump on the light rail and be in the city in less than 10 minutes, every five minutes". The claim comes despite the ACT government having yet to finalise details of the exact route for the planned city to Woden light rail line, including the number and location of stops. Geocon is partnering with developer Zapari Group to deliver Grand Central Towers, which will include 430 apartments at the site of the former Medibank building, next to the Woden bus interchange. The proposal was approved last January. Ms Le Couteur saw the video at the project's launch last March, and said she had been taken aback by the "very optimistic" claims about the speed and frequency of light rail trips. The video has been viewed almost 20,000 times on YouTube. "At that stage, obviously there was not a definitive time for light rail, and there still isn't, but they were talking about it taking 10 minutes from sitting in your apartment to being in Civic," Ms Le Couteur told ABC News. "It seemed surprisingly optimistic to me. If you're buying something then you should know what you are buying. Clearly, Grand Central, it's tagline is 'time is the ultimate luxury' and it was selling this as a sales point." The accusation has prompted an angry response from Mr Georgalis, who said it was another example of a politician criticising Geocon to "elevate their public profile". He said the ACT government had repeatedly said that light rail would stop in Woden's town centre, with services to run regularly and "on-demand". He said "any Canberran will tell you" that a trip from Woden to the city took 10 minutes, depending on traffic. "Squabbling over the exact amount of time the light rail will take equates to semantics," he said. Mr Georgalis said Ms Le Couteur's stance indicated she was nervous about losing her seat at next year's ACT elections. "If Caroline really had Canberra's best interests at heart she'd be tackling the big issues like locking down light rail stage 2 and 3, gangs in Canberra and ever increasing suburban gun violence," he said. "She will find these matters difficult to solve standing in the middle of Woden with a stop watch." Mr Georgalis confirmed the construction giant had no plans to alter or remove the advertising, which he said complied with national standards. A total of 384 apartments and 12 commercial apartments have been sold at Grand Central Towers. Ms Le Couteur chose not to respond to Mr Georgalis' attack when contacted by The Canberra Times. Geocon regularly uses the proximity of its developments to attractions and transport networks as part of its pitch to prospective buyers. In marketing material for its Aspen Village development in Greenway, the developer claims that it would take 80 minutes to drive from the Anketell Street complex to Jindabyne and the snowfields. Google Maps estimates the trip would take between 1 hour and 52 minutes and 2 hours and 27 minutes, depending on which of two routes was taken. Mr Georgalis said it took between 80 to 100 minutes to travel from Tuggeranong to the "outskirts" of Jindabyne, "depending how fast you drive and traffic conditions". Geocon's advertising campaigns have been a source of regular controversy for the developer. The ACT government and Unions ACT this year complained about Geocon's use of allegedly sexualised marketing material, in particular at its Tryst and Wova developments. Planning Minister Mick Gentleman in March said the government was considering introducing planning rules to stamp out sexist advertising. At the time, Geocon defended its advertising campaigns, which it said were devised by a predominately female team and complied with advertising standards and existing planning rules. The national advertising standards bureau has dismissed two complaints about Geocon material in the past 18 months.

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