Centre plans lodged
A MAJOR new shopping centre for Mareeba is a step closer with a development application for the $50m project lodged this week.
The shopping centre proposed for the corner of Rankin St will have a Woolworths supermarket, a drive-through fast-food outlet, a service station and a range of shops.
Sphere Group Development, which has specialised in stylish, affordable housing developments to date, bought
the 1.52ha parcel of land at 232 Byrnes St – right across the road from Coles.
The Woolworths supermarket will span 3580sq m and there will be 1011sqm of specialty retail shops in a forecourt mall with about seven tenancies.
The document states proposed operating hours would be Monday to Friday from 8am to 9pm, Saturday from 8am to 6pm, and Sunday from 9am to 6pm.
“Operating hours for the drive-through fast-food outlet
and service station will not be known until tenants have been secured, although approval for 24-hour, sevenday-a-week trading is sought,” the document states. It says the development will meet unmet needs of residents in the shire.
The site was home to a saw mill until about 1986, and has sat vacant since.
Sphere director Greg Ritchie said the company would own the site and had a long-term agreement from Woolworths to build and lease back a supermarket.
A Woolworths spokeswoman confirmed it was in talks with Sphere.
“We have a longstanding interest in the Mareeba area and we’re continuing discussions with Sphere Group Development,” she said.
Sphere Group Development has focused on residential land subdivision and building quality, entry-level, affordable housing for firsthome buyers, downsizers and investors.
Mareeba Shire Council has indicated in-principle support for the project.
The idea of a Woolworths supermarket for the Tablelands town was mooted as far back as 2008 when a failed Mareeba Shire Council rezoning application forced the Hedley Group to withdraw from a Sibi Girgenti plan to build a shopping centre on the same site.
Port Boojool Pty Ltd, the developers of the Treetops resort at Port Douglas, expressed interest in the project, but it went nowhere.