Toowoomba pharmacy wars: Major developers, businessman in race to establish new chemist, GP in Glenvale

One of Toowoomba’s fast-growing suburbs is currently underserviced for pharmacies — and two players are trying to get stores open first in a bid to capture the market.

Brisbane businessman Jason Tavakol and Toowoomba developers (inset) Barry and Mitchell Bernoth both have plans to create new pharmacies within metres of each other.

The fast-growing suburb of Glenvale could get two different pharmacies just a few hundred metres from one another.

Brisbane businessman Jason Tavakol says he is now in a race to get his new enterprise set up before noted Toowoomba developers Barry and Mitchell Bernoth do.

Mr Tavakol, who has spent more than two years and $60,000 on the plan, has agreed to lease terms inside a longstanding neighbourhood centre on the corner of Glenvale and Greenwattle streets, opposite the new Coles precinct.

It is understood a new GP clinic is also coming to the same centre.

At the same time, the Bernoths have been approved and taken to court over their proposal to build a medical centre and pharmacy on Greenwattle Street — just up the road and opposite the new Ozcare aged care facility.

Construction has now started on the site.

Jason Tavakol is a pharmacist hoping to open a Pharmacy on the corner of Greenwattle St and Glenvale Road. Picture: Nev Madsen.

The twist is the lead appellant in the now-dropped planning and environment court case was Chandra Kant Trikam, who owns the neighbourhood centre.

The case was discontinued last month by Mr Trikam’s lawyers.

Mr Tavakol declared he had nothing to do with the court case and hadn’t spoken directly with Mr Trikam, rather talking with current tenants at the centre.

He said he was hoping to hear back from the Federal Government within weeks on an application for his pharmacy to be accredited for the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme.

It would ensure customers can get access to discounted medication.

The application, which is the second after previous Health Minister Greg Hunt rejected his previous attempt, was required since the proposed site was technically too close to an existing PBS pharmacy.

But Mr Tavakol said Glenvale was currently underserviced for chemists and the location was ideal given its proximity to Coles.

“There are other pharmacies within Glenvale, those pharmacies block (our) Glenvale site to get a PBS approval number through the rules,” he said.

“The pharmacy location rules cover distances and it needs to be more than 1.5km to the nearest pharmacies.

“The first time I drove past Glenvale was about 2.5 years ago, and I started to look into it and the nearest pharmacies, and I realised it narrowly missed out to get a PBS number.

“There was a lot of dealing and wheeling, the first application (to the government) took three months to prepare, nine months to get the response.”

Once he gets his approval, Mr Tavakol said he could have his pharmacy ready to open within weeks, acknowledging there were benefits to launching before the Bernoths.

“The minister won’t grant two PBS numbers in Glenvale, he’ll only grant one so obviously it’s a little bit of a race against them,” he said.

“They’d be facing similar challenges — they’re both good options, but I am a bit closer to the Coles, I’m only 50m from it.

“I’ll be ready in four weeks from the response from the minister.”

The Bernoths were contacted multiple times for comment.

On site are (from left) Hutchinson Builders construction manager Nick Linnan, site manager Geoff Kampf and fourth year apprentice Sean McDonnell at the Greenwattle St construction site of a new medical centre, pharmacy and childcare centre in Glenvale, Friday, July 8, 2022. Picture: Kevin Farmer

CONSTRUCTION STARTS ON MEDICAL PRECINCT, CHILDCARE CENTRE

Work has already begun to create a major medical precinct and childcare centre in a fast-growing suburb of Toowoomba.

Hutchinson Builders is preparing the site on Greenwattle Street in Glenvale for Barry and Mitchell Bernoth’s latest development.

The projects, approved in 2019 and 2022 respectively by the Toowoomba Regional Council, will inject much-needed services for an area rapidly growing in residents.

Glenvale’s population has increased by more than 350 locals per year since 2016, according to new census data — an increase of nearly 28 per cent.

Hutchinson Builders team leader Sean Lees said the project would benefit the growing local community.

“It’s one of those areas that’s seen some growth, they had the Coles supermarket go in as well as the Ozcare, along with residential housing developments,” he said.

“In keeping with the demand for services, childcare and medical are important, so the community will benefit from this.”

Mr Lees said construction would take about six months to complete and employ nearly 200 people.

“In total, there are probably going to be about 195 people in total,” he said.

“It’s not the biggest job, but it’s still a reasonably-sized project that will have almost exclusively local people on it.

“It’s a totally greenfield site, which you don’t always get, but that means you are starting from scratch.

“There’s quite a bit of work in the footings, you’ve got a couple of metres of fall on the site.”