A group gathered Friday morning for a sod-turning ceremony at the Central Park development estate, on the site of what will soon become a retail hub called Mandurah Square.
“Before any excavators turn up, or concrete gets poured, or walls go up… there is a great deal of work that goes into the planning, development and acquisition of infrastructure to create the lots that surround us today,” Blackmont managing director John Young said in his welcome.
The retail development is set to include up to eight businesses, with 7Eleven Fuel & Convenience and Muzz Buzz already locked in, and create about 55 jobs in retail and 25 in construction.
“With construction commencing next month, Mandurah Square is on track to be completed and opened by this December,” Mr Young said.
The retail hub is one part of a major development project to open up the Greenfields area and increase urban infill by creating over 1,100 dwellings and house about 3000 residents.
“The Peel region over the last ten years has added 40 000 people to its number, and infrastructure is struggling to keep pace,” local MP Andrew Hastie said, before carrying out the sod-turning with Mr Young.
“It’ll make this area a little more complete, as you can see the footbridge that links this part of the world to the train station sort of goes to nowhere at the moment,” he said.
A bridge too far
Indeed, the $8 million “bridge to nowhere”, as it has been dubbed informally by locals, was a major talking point between guests at the ceremony.
Corrin Caine, the director of the Central Park development, said the City had really “stuffed up” the outline development plan (ODP) by the construction of the bridge.
“Our agreement with the City was that there was to be a project team established for the design and construction of the bridge, the project team consisting of the city and ourselves, the city went ahead and did it without any consultation from us,” Mr Caine said.
He said the ramp that comes down should have gone the other way, towards Murdoch Drive, or it should have serviced both sides.
Mr Caine said he was in discussion with the City to have a path put through from the end of the bridge ramping to Reynolds Avenue at council expense, but that it would take several years to build out, and since it had affected the ODP, might delay the affordable housing component of the development.
Central Park will include a variety of housing options, including single housing, unit development, and apartments that Mr Caine compared to Cockburn Central, “Overlooking the railway and close to the railway, and within easy walking distance of [Mandurah Square]”
