Toowoomba council approves changes to Dean Gallagher’s Glenvale Town Centre to allow for full Woolworths supermarket

One of Toowoomba’s fastest-growing suburbs is a step closer to getting a new full-line supermarket, after a developer’s town centre plans were approved.

Concept art for Gallagher Development Investment Group's Glenvale Town Centre project on Hursley Road in Glenvale.

A top developer has been approved for changes to the master plan of his new commercial precinct in a growing Toowoomba suburb that will make way for a new Woolworths supermarket in the coming years.

Gold Coast’s Dean Gallagher of DGI Group was given the green light at a special meeting of Toowoomba Regional Council to amend his approved Glenvale Town Centre on Hursley Rd, which is slated to take over the site of the old Newtown rugby league grounds.

The most significant of the changes was increasing the maximum floor area of the supermarket portion of the master plan from 1500sq m to 4000sq m, which would allow for a new full-line supermarket to be approved down the track.

It would also create space for an e-commerce hub that would allow the supermarket owners, in this case Woolworths, to process online orders for home delivery.

According to council’s planning officer Jayden Forbes-Mitchell, the applicant’s economic impact assessment (EIA) found there was demand for a new supermarket in Glenvale, despite the presence of Coles around the corner.

Dean Gallagher of GDI Group.

“There is a growing economic need in the main trade area for this site for a supermarket with low existing supermarket floor space provision limited competition and rising population growth,” he told councillors, in relation to the assessment.

“The EIA confirmed that development of a full-line supermarket by way of a change to the PAD would have the largest impact on the nearby Glenvale District Centre which includes a Coles full-line supermarket.”

The EIA initially suggested the Coles would lose about 12.5 per cent of its trade in the first year from 2028 (the expected year of the Woolworths opening), before recovering to original levels by 2031, but this was revised to nearly 18 per cent following a peer review.

The council’s peer review of the economic impacts concluded there was sufficient demand to allow for the supermarket to be upgraded, despite it finding that some of the impacts on the Coles’ trade had been “under-represented” by the original EIA.

“Despite a disagreement with some aspects of the supermarket supply analysis, the response appropriately considers smaller grocery stores,” the council’s planning report said.

“There is sufficient demand to sustain existing stores and the proposal.

“Impacts on the Coles supermarket have been under-represented by approximately $3m.

“Although impacts would be higher in percentage terms, this still represents a viable sales level.”

It is estimated the centre, which would the supermarket as well as a service station, childcare centre, tavern, bottle shop and motel, along with other specialty stores, would drive sales of about $45m per year.

The $65m project has been in the works since 2016, with GDI Group demolishing the old rugby league clubhouse and grounds in 2022.

The application was endorsed unanimously by councillors.

Originally published as Toowoomba council approves changes to Dean Gallagher’s Glenvale Town Centre to allow for full Woolworths supermarket