Medical, retail centre proposed for Bargara

A MULTI-USE medical, retail and accommodation development for Bargara rests in the hands of Bundaberg Regional Council planning department.

PROPOSED DEVELOPMENT: Bauer Street development. Picture: contributed

A MULTI-USE medical, retail and accommodation development for Bargara rests in the hands of Bundaberg Regional Council planning department following the submission of a development application.

The two-stage development would see the Palms Motel on the corner of See and Bauer Sts and the adjoining Bargara Beach Motor Inn demolished to make way for a three-storey state-of-the-art facility.

Heading the project, development manager Rob Donaldson said the main vision was to help keep people out of hospital by providing specialist services in Bargara.

"What we've got is a retail centre as the ground level development and we've got a first floor medical centre which is where we are hoping to co-ordinate the use of specialists to visit the region so that when patients come to that centre they will have access to a number of specialists at the same time," he said.

Mr Donaldson said, in addition, accommodation on the third level would provide a place for people to stay before and after day surgery.

"We're intending for it to also have nursing services available... if people have day surgery and they need a little bit of care following the surgery then they can have that," he said.

"We're thinking of things like skin care treatment, podiatrist, eye specialists as well as dieticians so we can run some programs particularly around elderly looking people looking after themselves at home.

"The whole intent is this medical centre will help people to be able to care for themselves at home rather than go to hospital."

Mr Donaldson said he had been encouraged by the support the project had already generated.

"The intent is the development will be unit titled so there will be investment opportunity for investors to own tenanted spaces in the development," he said.

"That would apply to both the retail spaces and the medical suits.

"There is also a quality motel development complete with a swimming pool and landscaped roof garden."

The development of the 3040sq m at 7 and 7A Bauer St in the application prepared by Insite SJC for the developer, the Haddon-Kot Discretionary Trust, needs a Material Change of Use for a "Retail, Restaurant/Cafe, Medical Suites/Offices, Motel and Multiple Dwelling".

"The development will ultimately see basement car parking with ground floor retailing, first floor medical suites and/or offices, second floor motel used in conjunction with the medical facilities with associated garden, swimming pool and manager's residence plus two separate penthouse units," the application states.

"Balconies are proposed to project on to the road reserves in a way that draws on the federation architecture principle that a veranda/balcony should be part of the main construction of the building rather than an addition to a building."

While a technicality sees the application listed as "not properly made" on the council's website, Mr Donaldson said meetings with council staff before last week's submission had been positive.

Originally published as Medical, retail centre proposed for Bargara