Coming soon, a crowdpleaser for 600,000

CASEY Council has been given the green light to start work on its sevenhectare megamillion dollar activity and retail centre on the Narre Warren civic precinct.
Casey chief executive Mike Tyler and director of infrastructure Ray Butler have brokered a staggering deal that could lead to a stateoftheart civic centre, library and multiuse arts centre being built at no cost to ratepayers.
Because of the developing freeway and main roads system, the centre will provide a destination point for a 600,000 catchment.
People as far away as Grantville, Lang Lang, Warragul, Cockatoo, and Emerald will be easily within a 30 to 45minute drive to the centre.
It will provide a wonderful meeting and shopping place that I expect will become the heart of the southeast.
Ironically, during early planning for the area, land developer, the late Isador Magid, while negotiating with the former City of Berwick, chose to place the Fountain Gate Shopping Centre further to the north of the highway, leaving what is now premium priced land in the hands of the municipality.
Probably Mr Magid’s thinking was that the centre would eventually benefit from an expected direct access from the Monash Freeway that didn’t happen.
The Casey activity centre redevelopment project was approved last year, but the council was subsequently asked to stop its preliminary work and in January 2006 the Minister for Planning Rob Hulls appointed a panel to review some aspects of the concept.
He later extended the panel’s guidelines to consider the entire proposal.
This was disconcerting to the council’s senior management because a call had already been made for expressions of interest from developers.
This was done based on the Minister’s earlier approval.
Despite at least a year’s delay of the project, and whatever pressures were being placed on the appropriate process, it seems to me that the council came out in front.
The panel, and I believe senior planning officers in government, appear strongly in favour of the concept.
The area has been declared a ‘priority development zone’ and that, plus the panel’s endorsement has placed the council in a stronger negotiating position.
Mr Butler can now offer developers absolute surety of tenure, providing confidence for them to move forward with tenders.
This development is expected to provide at least three floor levels and cover land between Westfield Shopping Centre and the Princes Highway.
The Casey ARC will be incorporated as part of the seven hectares of interlocking retail and parking.
The wetlands at the corner of Princes Highway and Magid Drive are expected to remain.
Part of the deal will be for the developer to provide stateoftheart facilities for the council along with the retail precinct.
Ownership of the land reverts to the council after 50 years under a private enterpriselocal government arrangement.