Stage one works on the 50-year old community shopping centre will include a new Coles supermarket, Liquorland, contemporary fresh food offering and ten new specialty retailers which will anchor the northern end of the refurbished centre.

Nikki Panagopoulos, Fund Manager of Australian Unity’s Diversified Property Fund, which is undertaking the development, said that in the current environment it was important to progress the much-awaited development which will not only provide between 80-120 jobs throughout construction but deliver an improved retail offer and enhanced amenity for the local community as the development progresses.

Australian Unity has appointed Schiavello Construction to complete the first $23 million stage of the three-stage development, with the anticipated completion date for stage one June 2021.

“We are working in line with Federal and State Government’s guidelines as they apply to social distancing and the building and construction industry and remain optimistic that construction will progress in a manner that will allow us to complete stage one in June 2021. Ms Panagopoulos said.

“Despite the uncertainty of the current environment, we have received a strong level of enquiry from a number of specialty retailers interested in being a part of the new refurbished centre and we expect these retailers to open for trade in November this year, followed by the fresh food offer in February 2021 and Coles and Liquorland in June 2021.”

Stages two and three of the re-development will commence after the completion of stage one and include the introduction of new service retailers and a new dining and food and beverage precinct.