CITY REVIVAL: ‘It’s where you go to experience things’
Plan to revive the CBD: Turn offices into homes, throw big events and encourage attractions
Mackay
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THE old version of a CBD is dead, and from its ashes Mackay Regional Council plans to build a new city heart.
A survey of the CBD conducted by the Daily Mercury in September found 74 empty shop fronts from Milton St to Brisbane St and from the river south to Gordon St.
Mayor Greg Williamson said he was not surprised by the high vacancy rate as cities around the world were struggling to revive their former retail centres.
"We're no different to CBDs from all around the world," Cr Williamson said.
"We have to realise the old model of built CBDs is over.
"It's gone and it's unlikely to return.
"The face of retail has changed, we need to accept that.
"Our focus is how do we deliver foot traffic back into the CBD."
Cr Williamson said the old logic of 'build it and they will come' had to be replaced.
He called for Mackay's city centre to plan its future around encouraging people back to the centre through "people-based development".
"It's not the place you go to buy things, it's where you go to experience things," he said.
Cr Williamson said this was about creating experiences, attractions and events in the city to draw people in, while also creating more homes in the CBD to create a locked-in customer base.
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Cr Williamson said five years ago more than $20 million was invested into improving the "ambience" of the city centre.
While Cr Williamson said the beautification was "fantastic", it had not drawn customers back into the city.
He said what worked was the targeted development of an "eat street" on Wood St.
Cr Williamson said a relaxation of planning scheme requirements two years ago had made it easier for people to live in the city centre, including encouraging developers to turn empty offices into homes.
"If you look at the first floor buildings, most of them are empty," he said.
"There's an opportunity to reinvent our CBD and have people live there.
"That's what we would like to encourage more of.
"All we can do is make the right planning environment."
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But Cr Williamson said it was difficult to get developers to take on the challenge, particularly as more than 40 per cent did not live in the region.
"They have zero interest apart from land banking," he said.
"So they can flog it off in the future."
But Cr Williamson said the council was concentrating its efforts on major projects like the Waterfront Priority Development Area.
"Obviously the council can only be facilitator in a certain number of areas in the CBD," he said.
"It's a big planning initiative that council can have on the future of the CBD."
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