Gympie council economic report reveals city’s retail future

A possible shift of the CBD away from the flood zone and two new shopping centres are among the significant projects on the cards in the next two decades. Here is where they would most likely be built.

Aa possible shift of the CBD away from flood-prone land was among major changes which may be on the cards for Gympie in the next 25 years.Credit: Infinity Flights Photography.

Two new supermarkets and a possible shift of the CBD away from flood-prone land are among the major changes which may be on the cards for Gympie in the next 25 years.

These details were laid bare in a report commissioned by Gympie Regional Council into the region’s commercial and retail needs as it prepares to overhaul its planning scheme.

The report, by Bull and Bear Economics, found the region needed to find new commercial centres or consolidate existing ones to cater to continued growth.

It found the region would need a new major supermarket by 2031, and a second supermarket between 2036 and 2041.

One of the “most logical” places for a new supermarket was on the Southside in a shopping centre proposed to sit between Australia Drive and Lindsay Street, the report said.

A proposed local centre in the Southside Structure Plan (blue circle), near Australia Dr and Lindsay St, is the "logical" home for a new supermarket in the region according to a commercial and retail report commissioned by Gympie Regional Council.

Mellor St and Excelsior Rd were other locations which would support a new supermarket under the planning scheme.

The Mary Valley also needed growth in its available supermarket floor space, but this could be managed through expansion instead of the construction of a new centre.

The fate of Gympie’s continually flooding CBD was another issue, but one with no clear solution.

The report raised the possibility of transforming commercial CBD land flooded in the 2022 disasters into parks and parking spots.

Shifting the CBD from the length of Mary St towards Mellor and Tozer St and away from the flood-prone lower part the street, would be “challenging” though.

Shifting the CBD from flood-prone lower Mary St towards Mellor St came with “challenges”, a new report from Gympie council has found, with such a shift likely to cost the council a significant amount of money.

Some CBD shop owners accepted the risk of repeated floods, the report said, and repurposing that part of Mary St for open space, recreation and parking “would come at significant cost to the council”.

This was because flood risk of the area would deter private investors from performing this overhaul.

As a result shifting the CBD “might at best represent a long term opportunity”.

Massive new development planned for Rainbow Beach

Moving forward, the CBD should be a focal point for housing and short-term accommodation, ideally on land which does not flood, the report said.

An excess of Centre Zoned land could be turned into residential choice, which would open the door to more higher density housing like duplexes close to commercial and industrial centres.

These areas included land to either side of Tin Can Bay Rd, east of the Goomeri Hotel, and north of Gympie around Oak, Duke and Pine streets.