Carpark tower plan off

CAIRNS Mayor Bob Manning has ruled out building a tower carpark at the old Australia Post site on Grafton St to fix the city’s parking woes.

It comes after the battle for CBD parking looks set to worsen as Cairns Regional Council’s upgrades the Lake St parking station, closing the 306-space to motorists, and developments draw construction workers to the city.

Cr Manning said the council acquired the Grafton St block several years ago with the possibility of building a tower carpark in mind, but it now wasn’t being considered.

“We put that out to the market. There was a bit of interest in it but nobody could make it stack up,” he said.

“It is not likely, at this moment anyway, that a carpark ranks highly there.”

Demolition has started at the block to free up about 30 temporary parking spots exclusively for permit holders.

In 2012 a concept design for a $25.6 million, six-storey carpark tower at the site was prepared for the council with scope for a residential or commercial offices to be built on top of the carpark. The former council noted it would address a critical city carparks shortfall.

But Cr Manning said the cleared land was earmarked for the eventual expansion of the Cairns Convention Centre.

He urged patience from residents while the city went through a “surge” of development.

“It does put a bit of strain on us but it is much better for the city to have short-term pressure than driving around thinking, ‘how the hell will we get people into the city’,” he said. “Sometimes you have got to go through a little bit of inconvenience to get to the end game.”