The vision for a vibrant and engaging CBD in Mackay

Plan to attract people back to the heart of the city.

An artist's impression of Victoria Street in Mackay's CBD. Picture: CONTRIBUTED

NOW THAT Mackay has received the go-ahead on a major development certain to transform the social and economic landscape of our regional town, it's time to examine the vision.

The Mackay Waterfront PDA is packed with an ambitious strategy to reinvigorate a large part of the city's centre through a variety of infrastructure, construction and revitalisation development.

Separated into five diverse precincts, the PDA's intention is to highlight the specific attributes of each precinct throughout the designated scheme area.

Today we explore precinct one as the first look of a five-part series.

IMAGINE a vibrant and engaging town centre with refreshed building facades intermixed with our historic art-deco architecture.

The vision for Mackay's City Centre, or 'precinct one' of the PDA, is to become a 'vibrant, accessible and engaging place for people to live work and play'.

The development scheme details precinct one as six city blocks of Mackay's CBD from Brisbane Street north to Gregory Street, and Gordon Street east to River Street.

Mackay Regional Council strategic planning manager Jaco Ackerman said the focus in precinct one would be on improving existing buildings and infrastructure.

"We are asking ourselves questions like, 'how can we reinvent those existing buildings?' because we've got a lot of heritage there," he said.

"We want to promote the heritage and art-deco architecture and make sure the buildings are properly used. That's the focus for precinct one.

Developer Sean Kelly currently holds a DA for Chaseley House and hopes the Waterfront PDA will 'bring the city back to life'. Picture: Lee Constable

"Also, 'how do we keep the businesses there but at the same time we need to improve these structures as well?'"

Read more on Our Future Mackay

Mr Ackerman said developing a clear masterplan would be the initial step in the developing process.

"The masterplan then informs the funding, which is followed by activation of a space, which means getting people into the heart of the city centre," he said.

Mackay Mayor Greg Williamson said another focus for precinct one was to get people living in the city once again.

"Getting people to want to live in the city will take developers and owners of the blocks to come on board. And marketing that goal is what we will have to do as a council," he said.

"For the business heart to work better you need more people in the city centre."

The PDA's design manager, Kylie Rogers, said activating precinct one meant getting people excited to be in the city.

"It includes things such as, active frontages onto the street with eateries, event strategies that use the city centre as an event space - anything that gets people excited about the area again because that is what gets developers to invest in the area," she said.

"The city's laneways are a really great low-cost opportunity for the council to improve on. Our city centre team is currentlyworking on fifth lane - adding artwork - and it is looking fantastic. The laneways are just one example of revitalising what is already available to us in the city centre.

"We want to create spaces that people want to live, work and play in. Not a space that is used at one time of the day but all times of day. Getting people to use the city once again is part of activation and that is an important part of the PDA, because when a community gets excited about an area, developers want to be there."

Cr Williamson said public ownership of property within precinct one would help the council create the desired vision within the masterplan.

"The council owns several key properties in precinct one - the Dome, the Retravision building and the car park behind those two properties," he said. "We think these properties will be catalytic within the precinct - we're not sure what we'll do with them yet - but if you have public-ownership over key pieces of land there will always be great opportunity for development."

An artist's impression of 33 River Street. Picture: CONTRIBUTED

Mr Ackerman said marketing was another key part of the strategy.

"Marketing is a process we run from the start, but it becomes more targeted as activation picks up," he said.

Cr Williamson said marketing precinct one would not be without its challenges because much of the city centre was owned by foreign interest outside of Mackay.

"We've got to get all the landowners in the six city blocks of the precinct engaged and that's difficult because some of them don't live here," he said.

"There is a concern with several of the properties in town just falling down and foreign landowners just not paying any attention at all.

"We've considered taking a 'big stick' approach to the problem, for example we could potentially double their rates if they don't maintain their building facade.

"We've got to take some serious steps to maintain the city, and if the people who own blocks of land in the city aren't incentivised by the PDA then perhaps we need to look to the 'big stick' approach.

An artist's impression of the potential development at 33 River Street. Picture: CONTRIBUTED

"I would say about 40 per cent of the properties in the six city blocks, I would call landbanking. They're not owned by locals and many are owned by foreign interests and they're just sitting on the land until the price goes up and that is detrimental to the vision we are trying to create.

"We've got to get them involved and we are trying to do that through this visionary project that will hopefully get them excited enough to invest in our town."

POTENTIAL FEATURES

• Accommodation
• Childcare centre
• Commercial activities
• Community activities
• Unit dwellings
• Indoor sport and recreation
• Market
• Nightclub entertainment facility
• Park
• Residential activities

Originally published as The vision for a vibrant and engaging CBD in Mackay