WACA project likely to fold

The ambitious WACA redevelopment is on the verge of collapse and may not survive the end of the year.

Only weeks after the loss of the 2014-15 Test match devastated WA cricket, the WACA is considering a settlement with developer Ascot Capital over the failure of the $500 million proposal to revamp the ground.

Ascot is understood to be happy to walk away from the deal given the lack of buyer interest in the first stage of the development - a 76-unit complex on the western side of the WACA Ground.

Several buyers have also withdrawn their preliminary offers.

If the project collapses, the WACA may have to pay Ascot up to $3 million to cover the costs it accrued in the seven years since WACA president Dennis Lillee initiated the joint venture.

But Ascot will not get any benefit from the increase in the value of the ground, an issue that led to the shock resignation of WACA chairman-elect George Jones in July.

Under the terms of the deal struck in 2007, the WACA would have been required to pay Ascot 8 per cent of the increase in land value - a fee of about $4 million - only if it sold the unit sites or entered into an alternative redevelopment agreement.

There is virtually no prospect of the WACA finding another developer in the short to medium term.

WACA chief executive Christina Matthews said the project was still alive but acknowledged that it faced a series of imminent hurdles. "Like any sensible business proposition, if the ducks don't line up, this will not go ahead," Ms Matthews said.

"We need to get finance, an appropriate construction contract and development application approval. One thing depends on the other, so if one falls over the ball might stop rolling."

An end to the development would raise considerable questions over the future of the ground and increase the likelihood of a deal to play high-profile cricket matches at the new Burswood stadium.

Lillee has a year to run as president but is increasingly likely to quit before the end of his term.