Gracemere Shoppingworld reveal plans for second stage
The owners of the Gracemere Shoppingworld have revealed new designs for an expansion at the centre to include 500+ more carparks including a basement level, a children’s playground, taxi and bus rank, discount department store, specialty tenancies food court and outdoor dining.
Rockhampton
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The once-rural town of Gracemere is rapidly growing in population and developers are cashing in to keep up with the demand.
A Hungry Jack’s is set to be built this year and now plans have been proposed to build a Zarraffa’s Coffee drive-thru neighbouring it.
There are also new owners at the long-standing Gracemere Hotel who have plans for renovations and potential expansions.
The biggest development of all is the latest plans revealed by the owners of Gracemere Shoppingworld, the McConaghy Group.
“We have been grateful for the way the community has embraced Gracemere Shoppingworld since first opening in 2011,” a McConaghy Group spokesman said.
“This application is about allowing the centre to grow sustainably with the needs of the town over the long term.
“We look forward to working closely with council to see the application progress.”
Plans for the shopping centre were approved by Rockhampton Regional Council in 2010 and it opened in 2011.
At the time, there were originally two stages with the second stage still yet to be built.
New plans were submitted to council in December 2023 with changes to the second stage.
The latest plans include a space for a second supermarket (4,000 sqm in size), a discount department store, speciality stores, kiosk tenancies and more amenities.
Outdoor dining is the main feature of the new plans, with the concept designs showing a food court and food and drink outlets surrounded by seating with lots of greenery and a children’s playground.
An additional 571 carparks, including a basement carpark, are also proposed along with a bus set down and taxi rank.
This would take the centre’s total number of carparks to 820.
There are also changes to the current access to ensure long-term operation of the centre and improve the road network including a left turn lane only from the Capricorn Highway, a second access off O’Shanesy Street via a new roundabout (to connect to the basement carpark) and significant external roadworks.
In total, the new works are a combined 14,849 sqm.
The current centre occupies less than half of the site with this new proposal to develop the remaining balance area.
Most of the area is vacant land with a home-based business and office on one of the lots.
Gracemere Shoppingworld is the primary retail and commercial centre servicing Gracemere and surrounding areas and caters to approximately 5,000 to 8,000 households.
The centre is anchored by Woolworths and Best and Less and also has a Wendy’s, BWS, Brumby’s, Subway, Gossip’s Cafe, Yoxi Sushi, Eve and Grace Hair Studio, Gracemere Dental, LiveLife Pharmacy, Beautica Beauty and Nail, Mister Minit, EB Games, Dollars & Sense, Phone Care, Australia Post, Pets Domain, Freechoice Tobacconist and Gracemere News.
There is also a McDonalds, Woolworths service station and Red Rooster.
In November (2023), Gracemere was named Queensland’s most popular location for house sales.
The population of Gracemere grew from 8,401 in 2011 to 12,031 in 2021 (according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics).
The population is expected to grow to 14,756 in 2031, an increase of 4.8 per cent, according to the Rockhampton Regional Council‘s Economic Profile by Economy.id, which uses a mix of ABS and Census data for its projections.
The new plans are now under assessment by council planning officers.
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Originally published as Gracemere Shoppingworld reveal plans for second stage
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