Isador’s dream starts to come true

STRAINS of Isador Magid seemed to be present in the room last week when Casey mayor Neil Lucas told a press gathering about the proposed activity centre for the Narre Warren central business district.
The late Isador Magid once told me that he was for the ‘working man’ and provided homes and facilities that were affordable to most people.
Part of his vision was development of the Fountain Gate Shopping Centre at Narre Warren with a generous allocation of land for civic purposes.
The City of Casey now plans to use its slice of that land to create a major activity centre on the area between the Westfield Shopping Centre and Casey ARC.
True to Mr Magid’s dream, the council will call on the community to play a major role in design of the activity centre.
Cr Lucas said a main focus in the design would be extensive community consultation and the fact that the land would be leased in order that it remained in public ownership.
He said the centre would evolve around what the community wanted.
This is within the constraints of what a developer can do on the land because the council has put a big ask on the drawing board.
This is a large piece of prime real estate in one of Melbourne’s busiest shopping precincts and has the potential to become a destination point for a wider community extending from throughout the eastern region.
Here lies the opportunity for dreams to come true, such as a new civic centre, performing arts centre, and stand alone art gallery, along with a library, parking, cafes and people places.
One’s imagination can be unbounded in thinking about what can be achieved, but this is serious business and will set the scene for living in this region for the next three generations.