Ross Finocchiaro’s development company lodges plans for new shopping centre at Palmerston
The planned shopping centre, whose proponents are prominent NT developers, would contain dozens of tenancies and provide an economic and lifestyle boost to the city, a new report says.
Business
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A proposed Palmerston shopping centre in gestation for the past few years has taken a leap forward, with the proponent lodging a development application and voicing his belief the first stage could be built and opened in fewer than 12 months.
Palmerston Central Pty Ltd, a company owned by Fannie Bay husband-and-wife duo Ross and Joanne Finocchiaro (who are understood to be distantly related to Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro), has lodged plans with the Development Consent Authority to develop the centre at 38 and 42 Georgina Cres, Yarrawonga.
According to documents filed with the authority, the 25,800 sqm site, situated at the intersection of Roystonea Ave and Temple Tce, is undeveloped but for a Fuel XPress service station, which was developed a few years ago alongside the first batch of carparking for the future shopping centre.
The new centre, to be called Palmerston Central, would feature 23 retail tenancies, including showroom sales and warehouse format, and be developed in two stages.
The first stage, closest to Roystonea Ave, would feature nine retail tenancies, while the second, closest to Temple Tce, would add an additional 14 tenancies.
The total net floor area of both buildings would be 10,032 square metres, with a maximum height of 10m.
The shopping centre would be accessible via Georgina Cres, Roystonea Ave and Temple Tce, and include 289 carparking spaces.
The additional traffic generated by the proposal would be less than five per cent of the existing traffic and will therefore not have a significant impact on the road network, a traffic assessment report found.
Mr Finocchiaro told this masthead his company believed the first stage could be constructed and open for business as early as the first half of 2025, with work on the more complicated second stage to begin immediately after.
He said consistent with the shopping centre’s “highway commercial” format, Mr Finocchiaro said most tenancies would be about 500–1000 sqm, with a handful of smaller food and beverage tenancies.
Mr Finocchiaro was unable to detail conversations with prospective retailers due to their ongoing nature.
Town planners Masterplan, in a report in support of the development, said the development would bring economic and lifestyle benefits to Palmerston.
“The proposed showroom sales and warehouse are consistent with employment goals of the
[Palmerston] Town Centre, representing a vibrant mix of commercial, services and social,” the report states.
“The proposal also meets the objectives of market demand, providing recreation services and jobs for local workers and surrounding residents.”
The Finocchiaros are prominent property developers in the Top End, with properties at Darwin, East Arm, Palmerston and Fremantle, in Western Australia.
Their most famous development was the Darwin Central Hotel, opened in 1997 and which won a slew of architectural awards.
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