lendlease in maroochydore

stocklands in caloundra

maybe its time we got rid of the duopoly?

time to stop dealing with these two - let lendlease have the flooded CBD at Maroochydore and Stocklands have the flood plain in South Caloundra and then nothing more - close them out of council business

I could care where it went..............but I know I want David Jones here!!!! My husband does not!

I don't really care if DJ's is in the Plaza or 700 metres away in another plaza. But what gets up my nose is when people make ridiculous, unsupportable statements to cover up their real agenda.

Why is it important for one shopping precinct to be within easy walking distance of another one? Indeed, why is it important for DJ's to be next door to Myers?

Is there some sort of precedent which you can quote to substantiate that having two shopping precincts separated by more than 700 metres "will not work"?

And why will setting a new centre up seperate from the Plaza set Maroochydore's CBD plans back years in their efforts to become less tired and boring?

Could it be because one company owns one precinct and they don't own the other one.

Hopefully some big changes will take place at the next elections!

Hands up those who ould be surprised if DJ announced they will cancel the plans to open here.

Well done, (mayor). Another business frightened away.

Maybe the council will find money in their funds for a sign on the highway reading:

"Sunshine Coast: Closed for Business"

Grumpy - I am fairly normal,( I think) and it would be a rare day when I would walk from 1 shopping centre that offers everything, to another shoppig centre that offers the same.
DJ's is not all its wrapped up to be - its just another store selling pretty much the same as Myer but under a different labe. Once I've done one shopping centre, I've done them all! ( pretty much)
As for Bob saying HE wouldnt hand Sunshine Plaza a golden handshake by "allowing" DJ's to set up shop there -- has he ever considered that perhaps DJ's WANT to go in there because of the crowd-pulling power of the existing stores ( including Myer?) Has e even thought that DJ's might pull the pin on the Sunshine Coast if it can't go where it wants to ?in an established commercial hub?
Somehow Me thinks Big Bob isgetting a little too big for his shoes -- even though his agenda may be generally honourable.
Time to butt out abit Bob! You are the Mayor, Not the Fuhrer!

As a mum of small children having everything in one place is much easier then trying to get the kids strapped in and out of the car to traipse around the coast to find what you are looking for or need. Plus you run the risk of them falling asleep in the car during a short trip.

I would prefer for everything to be in one big shopping centre, it's more convenient to drive to one location and not all across the coast, especially when you live a fair distance from the coast as it is.

You take out the stress of parking, petrol and time wasted dealing with multiple shopping centres. There are already 3 majors on the coast as it is.

So is this all just about DJ's?

The entire Maroochydore CBD plan revolves around a DJ's store?

DJ's is going to make Maroochydore less tired and boring overnight?

I have been into quite a number of DJ's stores in NSW and QLD and I am here to tell you that they don't exactly exude an air of energy and excitement.

I don't care if they go into Plaza 1 or Plaza 2. Or if the never-to-be-built railway station is in the middle of their store. I just don't think that the entire Maroochydore CBD plan revolves around them.

Other business interests in Maroochydore have been able to compete with the businesses in the plaza. The streets are lined with them. In my opinion, it would appear that Large Robert's alleged protectionist stance may hide something more sinister. It appears to me that his recent statements are not about providing the land on which developers, then businesses using the developed land can compete, he seems to think he is entitled to determine how that competition will occur and who will be in the game.

It would be nice to hear of some INDUSTRY somewhere, anywhere.
Retail and housing, retail and housing, retail and housing, broken record of nonproductive consumerism.
Places for people to buy things they can't afford to fill houses they can't afford.
Australia, a land of people who spend money they don't have to buy things they don''t need to impress people they don't like.
At least it stops them (us) from thinking too much about the fact that it can't work that way for ever.
We wouldn't want that now would we?

Firstly Myles it is not 700 metres it is more like 200 metres.
Secondly Bob as I understand it the golf club has not decided to move and wont until it gets a good enough offer so dont go telling anyone what is or is not going on that land it is not yours to play with!
A 10 storey limit in the CBD (in any CBD) will never work.
Its about time we get real (or should I say Council gets real) we either have a CBD or we have a chocked up shopping precinct which no one can get to.

Bigtop = no vibrancy, low traffic,slow sales, possibility of tenents not renewing leases. 100meters away Sunshine Plaza = high traffic, good sales, tenents willing to renew leases.... And the bureaucrats think we need another bigtop? Best thing they could do is get out of the way and let business's work to their models.

@ vanga... your wish that the duopoly is over has been granted

Noosa Civic - Stockwells
Kawana Shopping world - Mirvac
Sunshine Plaza - Lendlease
Nambour Plaza - Perks Property Investments (formerly Macquarie)
Caloundra - Stockland

Bob you are a goose, that is what business is. What council now is a competition regulator what next an industrial park that is not industrial...whoops that been done, BOB TIME TO GO!

We don't shop in Maroochy often as there is a good neighbourhood centre closeby that have 'everything we need', and I guess, if we lived in Maroochydore, we'd say the same, everything close by or within walking distance.

But on this very rare occasion, I agree with Bob, the town plan MUST encourage competition, now let's see if Bob and his flock of blue bottles would do the same for other industries, because all I can see is a very large corporation controlling a significant amount of housing stock for the next 25 years. Either someone is asleep at the wheel or something fishy is going on.

Maybe a larger Sunshine Plaza with a David Jones would encourage more people to drive from Noosa to shop there!

That then may affect the shops at Noosa. I wonder if that could be part of the reason?

What is wrong with allowing DJ's permission to open in Sunshine Plaza...........

Think our local Mayor and Councillors have lost the plot...

Generally All Major Shopping Centres incorporate the large retailers into their complex, not having them located elsewhere.
What is wrong with developing the parking area outside woolworths and have a new multi story elevated car park.
This is what Major Shopping Plazas or Malls are all about.......

Why would Bob Abbot think that David Jones would want to wait 7 years for the Horton Park development to be possibly ready? Who is he to say that Lend Lease can't expand their plaza to accommodate further business? Surely that is the full Council's role, and why anybody would want to stop a shop which will attract further well-heeled trade I can't imagine. Not everyone wants to shop at discount stores and/or charity shops. Pull your head in Mr Mayor, there's plenty of room to accommodate it.

Go to any big shopping complex where there is Myer and DJ's. Surprise they are all under the same roof on the same side of the road. Wake up Bob, most people that I know want to do one stop shopping.

My understanding of a "golden handshake" is that money is paid from one party to another.

I would be horrified if ratepayers' money were being offered to any businesses as "incentives".

I didn't see or hear Abbot's speach, but for goodness sakes, get back to the basics.

Cancel all overseas "study" trips, grants for "this and that", business "incentives", etc, etc, and stick to roads, rubbish, and ...........what else does local council do?

Good on you, Bob.

Agree, Grumpy.

Well said, gymp. Ahead of the game - that most never recognize, let alone escape. That's where I try to be too.

Credit made me what I am today!

Another business that got frightened away? Or just a manipulative corporate BULLY that got told - NO! You DON'T run the show!

Anytime at all that the community has a win over corporate self-interest is a GOOD DAY!

The sign on the highway should read:

"Sunshine Coast: Closed for Business to Corporate Bullys. (We've already over our quota)"

Don't fret girls, you'll survive without blind consumerism, a credit card AND David Jones - just like all the girls in Haiti, Chile, Burma, Iraq, most or all of Africa, Asia, India... Anywhere at all that people are in touch with reality basically.

Here’s a bed-time bush yarn for the ankle-biters.

Once upon a time there was a gold rush. Gold had been discovered among the Wallen flowers and rainforest hardwoods, and in the cane fields earlier settlers made by clearing most of the Wallan, and in the orchards and the cow-cockie paddocks they made by clearing most of the rainforests.

From the beaches and the flood-plains along the three rivers and the creeks, all the way back and up into the Razorback Range to the headwaters of the rivers, everything was pegged out and claimed. It was on for young and old. The New Chums rushed in from everywhere, determined to make their fortunes, and the old seaside settlements, the farms and the country towns quickly went the way of the Tassie Tiger.

But this was a very special gold rush, because it was all about a very special, magical gold. A gold that was just like the Emperor’s New Clothes (and the risk in a CDO, CDS or MBS) – it couldn’t be seen. And because it couldn’t be seen, it didn’t need digging up. And that meant that anyone who could get a grubstake could grab a claim and then just sit and watch as the value of land went up faster than pennies off a kip.

There’s never a shortage of geese or galahs, or of mobs willing to lend them money in exchange for a share of the profits, so the geese and galahs flocked in, along with the bushrangers, snake-oil salesmen, carpet-baggers, shysters, opium peddlers and the rest. And the land values just kept on going up and up.

It was just like the rushes the old-timer’s told yarns about: Ballarat, Bathurst, Coolgardie, Fairbanks, Kalgoorlie, Klondike, Otago, Sierra Nevada, Witwatersrand. And as with any rush, you’ve got to be in it to win it, so there were soon more prospective winners living in the rush region than there are people living in Hobart or Darwin or Newcastle, or in England's cities of Leicester or Coventry, America's Tampa or Toledo, Italy’s Firenze or Venezia, or in the whole of Iceland or Vanuatu.

The state government decreed that the rush region was to be incorporated into a Region that would be administered by a Regional Council. State government was building itself a mega-city, and the Region was going to become the northern suburbs. It was going to be huge. So they promised that regionalization (they called it amalgamation) would create big savings and deliver big benefits – it was going to be a beauty, the best thing since Noah built his boat and had sliced bread for supper.

Most people in the rush region were very busy building things, making things and selling things, or working in the shops, offices, schools, clinics and the myriad commercial activities that keep communities going (and pay taxes), so they couldn’t spend too much time getting involved in the formation and operation of this new Regional Council.

more->

That’s one of the ironies of democracy: the people most capable and able to govern and administer are generally too busy making a living (for themselves and others) to do much, other than vote.

And that’s how it came to be that just three blokes threw their hats into the ring for the top job on the new council. Some said that one of them had already been tarred and feathered as a 'friend of ruthless development' and others said that another one was the tame mouthpiece of a mob of elitist fops with deep pockets. And some said that the third bloke was probably only there for the tea and biscuits and to make up the numbers.

So the Region had its vote. And the ‘winner’ got the job because one contender was tarred and feathered and the other wasn’t even in the running. None of which mattered, because the new Council had no power or authority – its sole purpose was to do what it was told, and to make things easier for the state government: one big ball to kick, instead of lots of little ones.

When the election was safely over and out of the way, the state government told the hundreds of thousands of people living in the Region that hundreds of thousands more were going to be joining them. And then they put out the welcome mat. Everyone welcome – just so long as they’ve got plenty of dosh.

Time rolled on, and the new Council rolled with it. The promised savings and benefits did a Burke & Wills, the New Chums kept on rolling in from far and wide, and the value of land kept on climbing.

The mayor and the rest of the council mob carry on like pork chops about this and that, grandstanding and praying they will impress the voters in their ward enough to vote them back in for another term, but all in all they’re pretty hopeless. The real decisions about what is going to happen in the Region – and when – are being made elsewhere by corporate executives and financiers. Federal and state politicians then grease the wheels – and their own palms – and various deals are done, usually behind closed doors, or on luxury yachts and liners, or overseas.

But some things never change: if you really want to know how many head of cattle each station is going to be carrying after the wet, get yourself a place at the Squatters table. Or wait until after the wet, and then count them yourself. You’re never going to learn much from a yapping drover’s dog – even at a ‘business lunch’.

A thought fo all. What if lend lease decided to scrap the small shops and use the floor space fr DJs.

What would the Council do then. Could they stop this frm happening? The plaza would have Coles and woolies, Kmart Target Myer and DJs plus the food court the Movies.

Aldi will be down the road in a seprate spot.

The "anti plaza" on Horton Park would have nothing to attract cutomers.

Really if there is space at the Plazza then why is the Council so anti it? If you want to go shopping you will be basically driving from one to the other.

I don't shop at the plaza. But who wants the plaza to expand further? Its a nightmare now.

The Beautiful Sunshine Coast: The place where the builders of the world shop and the shoppers of the world build.

You can shop from dawn till dusk and....um...and then you can build. Yes...endless fun for all the family.

Population: Changes every hour. But it's a hell of a lot but not quite enough yet.

Go to any big shopping centre, Chermside, Indoorpilly, one stop shopping....it works and saves time driving from one to another and injects a little competition within the bigger department stores, which can only be good news for the consumer. I, for one, would prefer not to have to travel between centres as I usually have a wheelchair to lug around and fold and unfold into the car...
Besides, the Plaza is boring and needs an injection of some new blood...bring it on I say...

Myer is better than DJ's anyway

brianbarry, take it from someone with a small business and being gauged inorder for the landlords to offer 'anchor' tenants incentives......

They need small specialty shops to line their pocket.....

Ridiculous,

When has it ever been government's job to manipulate the market. Point to me the expert economic advisor that made this decision? There is none.

It was made on a whim by people who don't have a clue. Uneducated, redundant nobodies who just happened to put their name on an electoral role.

It is not the job of the Council to decree from up on high what can or cannot be built where. That is the job of the market. What the Council's job is to develop a structure plan for the Maroochydore area which will ensure land uses do not conflict with each other, the road system works, services are available, etc.

Do you know where a government dictates where a particular business can or cannot go? China.

1. The Myers building was contructed for the addition of further floors above, right from the outset.

2. Many years ago Peter Wise & myself were the only
serious objectors to Lend Lease plans for Plaza Parade.

The outcome was effectively an extra $1.0m bucks into the pool for roadworks

Why has this taken our most senior councillor so long to publicly state. Lend Lease ripped the guts out of Maroochydore & delivered us Erina Fair Mk II.

There is an old joke in the shopping CEntre industry. IF you blindfolded a shopper & put them in plane & dropped them off @ a Westfield Shopping Town - they would NOT know which state they were in.

Lend Lease admitted before the Sands was developed that they were effectively duplicating their plans for Eina Fair north of Sydney.

That's how much they thought of our specaial sun-e coast lifestyle!

Big Bob is not anti-growth, he is just:
- anti David Jones
- anti ashphalt plants in industrial areas
- anti McDonalds in commercial areas (Niclin Way)
- anti residential development in the Urban Footprint (and presumably outside the Urban Footprint)
- anti Council support for existing major industries on the Coast (tourism, retail, and construction)
- anti development in flood plains
- anti Wet'N'Wild and Aussie World
- anti water theme park at Caloundra
- anti water reform
- anti State Govt involvement in Sunshine Coast planning

Don't know what his view is on the new hospital?

.... Oh but he is pro-rural development (big deal).

Town planning on the Sunshine Coast is appalling. Planning should be for the future, not for the moment. There are talks of a stadium and hospital (maybe) in an area with poor transport links. These should be put near the university - there is plenty of space and links to the highway etc. There is very little sense of community in Maroochydore or a lot of the the other areas on the coast. The spralling suburbs lack character.

Put DJs wherever you like - it's not going to the change the mess that the area is already in.

Plaza the white trash shopping centre by the sea
as for council just another development to stuff right up
good to see nambour Cbd is still an x industrial waste land after council stopped any redevlopment of the 5 years ago, could have had a great town rather than empty stores linning curry street for years. Let djs got to north gate down the road it will easier for them to go there .

let the Palmview development have a full Chermside size shopping centre with all the big names

Oh yes.. a seachange is all about shopping malls and Myer/ DJ showdowns.... movie theatre complexes and maccas... isn't it?...

shop 'till you drop folks.. if it makes your seachange more enjoyable... life is so sad without a generic mall,eh?...

I'll be out in the surf... saving money.. ha ha .... it comes for free...

It is good to see so many people agree business should find it's own way rather than councillors telling them what to do. An example of Council splitting areas is The Civic in Noosa which makes people walk out in the rain from one area to another. Keep it together and go up if required.
Does anyone who goes to singapore not like their shopping centres.

drp - See you out there!

noosa civic would be a great place for djs

dirtroadpirate.....Nothing is free.

Next the SC Council shall be placing a 'surfiing Levy; on ratepayers.

Not all of us are here for a seachange drp, some of us were born here and work here - some of us in retail....I want my shopping all in the one place thank you very much, I don't have time to wander around the coast.....

I do feel we need some new blood though...It;s not about shopping until we drop or white trash, it's about convenience and car parking yadda yadda yadda....if we have yet another precinct, where do we park? There are never enough spaces....

I was told only recently that there are plans to add the extra floor at Myer...

realisticpaul this would be funny if it weren't so possible. Look out drp!

What about a blogging levy?

Poor old Zorro will be in debt up to his eyeballs!

About Time someone in government thought about the big picture for the community! Why is it good to have one single shopping precinct (in the hands of one firm)?
Having another shopping will bring more than one shop, more competition, more opportunities!

It Saddens me as an Australia to see the Australian people only worry about the present goals and not the big picture. Australian retail market is controlled a few which is why our prices are highly inflated, and the market is restricted.

Lets not be the land of monoplies!!

Why is it cheaper to buy better quality clothing from the UK, than what I can get in Australia?? Same can be said about plazma/LCD TVs bought in the uk? Isn't funny how the prices of TVs went up when the stimulus bonus were paid out!

realistic and chris - Fortunately (for all of us), the idea or assertion that "nothing is free" is not remotely realistic or even possible and is merely the kind of sad, negativistic poke that these blogs are full of.

What we need (as far as the blogs go) are levies on blind, dumb stupidity and automatic, belly-aching negativity. Then we'd really rake in the bucks!

Now go outside, smell the flowers, enjoy the sun (when it comes out), give thanks for the country you live in, stop whinging and have a great day. All free!

No doubt though, you (or another whinger) will find something negative in that. So be it.

b4ref33t

You are probably correct as I have never bothered with investment into retail premises, howverr, the statement was made to stir up debate and to show how stupid the remark was from the mayor.

And to those who think it will stir up competition between centres. Who is currently looking at buying Horton Park - Lend Lease. The same company that owned the Plaza.

I have heard that they are dropping their option though. The developmnet figures just don't stack up as Council has gotten to greedy with its requirements.

ox

The mayor is also very pro sending work out of the city. He has said it a couple of times that he would prefer to deal with companies outside the region becuse he does not think that local firms are not inovative enough.

brianbarry123,

Your news is not surprising. I would love to see Horton go ahead, and if we need a heavy rail system, this is the place to put it. But the Council has absolutely no business sense. If Lend Lease cannot make a quid and the project does not stack up, why buy it?

I just hope that this was done by ignorance and not deliberately engineers to ensure Horton remained dead in the water. My skeptical side is not sitting well on this one.

Just so you know, Bob Abbott, I live here and I want DJs here, and I want them in a convenient location in the same plaza as Myers, Target and KMart. Get a grip. Why should everyone's convenience and wishes be sacrificed to some whim of yours and a handful of "planners"?

I want to know Bob where you get off saying "the community want" with no valid data collection to back it up.

Has anyone noticed you didn't take any notice of real opinion when it came to amalgamation.

You just go for the easy targets - pretty simple to have a swing at big bad corporates.

Get with the times and let us have a pulsing breathing community here - and a central plaza such as sunshine plaza is a central part of that.

A lot of us already schlep down from Noosa area to Maroochydore and Sunshine Plaza because they wouldn't allow a proper Bunnings up here, and they won't allow Noosa Civic to become useful.

It's hard not to think that the latter is to protect the pampered shopkeepers at Noosa Junction, who all like to close at 2 on Saturday afternoon and not open at all on Sunday. They seem to think they are landed gentry and it's still 1930.

So Bob condemns us to travel at high speeds on dangerous roads, using petrol. Since we're doing that already, it would capitalise on the use of resources to have a DJs there too.