Civic centre site talks drawn out

By Paul Dunlop
PLANS to develop the Pakenham civic centre site are still on the drawing board.
Two years after the project’s biggest stakeholder backed out, authorities are yet to settle on a new concept.
Property group Trinity Consolidated and Cardinia Shire Council were said last week to be continuing negotiations over the best future for the John Street site.
Trinity Consolidated project partner Steve Tyson said his firm was working up plans for the redevelopment and rejevunation of the threehectare property in central Pakenham.
Mr Tyson said it was hoped to have plans in place before the end of the year.
Retail and speciality shops have been suggested among the options but nothing has yet been decided in the touted $50 million project.
A cinema complex has also been touted as a possibility, although it is believed cinema operators are reluctant to commit to the area until the population grows.
Mr Tyson said the withdrawal of Southern Health from the original project and changing views on council as to what should happen at the site meant nothing had been finalised.
“One thing is for sure, both us and the council are keen to see the right solution for the site,” Mr Tyson said.
Meanwhile, Peter Gillon of the Gillon Group has requested council to lift controls on development of the former Pakenham Consolidated School site in Main Street.
As previously reported in the Gazette, Mr Gillon hopes to develop a complex featuring a supermarket, Big W department store, supermarket, petrol station, entertainment centre and up to 20 specialty shops at the site in Main Street.
The Gillon proposal, which has also touted a cinema complex, has been the subject of plenty of debate around town.
Mr Gillon wants the council to remove planning controls that prohibit the development of the currently vacant site as a shopping centre.
The controls were put there for fear the development would spread Pakenham’s business district too thinly and could ‘fragment’ the town.