‘City in a rainforest’ plan
Tropical wall garden part of new cafe concept
VERTICAL gardens are set to bring a “city in a rainforest” vibe to a new Queenslanderstyle cafe planned at the corner of Lake and Upward streets in the Cairns CBD.
Attached to the existing Globetrotters International Backpackers, the cafe’s footprint will add 65sq m to the building and is expected to feature internal seating overlooking Upward St.
Backpackers’ owner Brian Ritchie said the current corner sandwiched between two hospitals right now had a “sterile” feel.
“It’s a north Queensland style cafe, it’s a tropical looking place,” he said.
“We want to turn it into one of the nicest corners on Lake St,” he said.
Mr Ritchie said travellers staying in the hostel would have easy eats and coffee on their doorstep but they were not the focus of the proposed cafe.
“It’s more so aimed at servicing the hospital next door,” he said.
“It’s somewhere a bit different. Position wise it is very busy in that area Monday to Friday.”
The development application lodged last week references the Cairns Regional Council’s tropical urbanism planning policy and will add “significant improvement in the current visual landscape”.
“(A) vertical or green wall landscaping to be featured on segments of the proposed exterior cafe walls.
This will contribute towards the planning scheme policy outcome for a “city in a rainforest” and will result in a significant improvement in the current visual landscape amenity of the locality, the application states.
Also contained in the application is a request to change existing flats at 154 Lake St into a six-room, 54-bed dormitory.
Four flats at 156 Lake St will become a four-room, 24-bed sleeping area and the bed capacity at 6 Upward St will increase from 17 to 25 beds.
“At the moment they are units and we are turning them into a full on backpackers,” Mr Ritchie said.
“Hopefully it will be a winwin situation.”