Bunbury will look closely at plans to increase inner-city living over the next decade – including the potential to live above shops.
Bunbury is close to adopting a new town-planning scheme that will allow greater flexibility to develop residential apartments in the CBD and key neighbourhood centres.
Bunbury Mayor Gary Brennan predicts demand for inner-city and affordable housing will only increase and said the city needed to have planning flexibility so developers could meet the demand. “Our ambition is to see neighbourhood centres – which include shopping, schools and public transport – have high-density residential close by,” he said.
The comment will please developers pushing for increased urban housing. Last month, Bunbury’s biggest property developer called on the local council to relax its opposition to people living above commercial premises.
Geoff Prosser owns the expansive Homemaker Centre and wants to build up to 50 one-and two-bedroom “shop-top” apartments above the centre, offering affordable living minutes from the Bunbury CBD.
Mr Prosser owns a swathe of commercial developments across the Bunbury region, including the Homemaker Centre, the Minninup Forum Shopping Centre and the Eaton Fair development.
The Homemaker Centre contains 64 commercial showrooms and offices over 10 hectares. It is home to a number of national and local retailers, including Bunnings, JB Hi-Fi and The Good Guys.
Located on Blair Street less than two kilometres from the Bunbury CBD and the beach, Mr Prosser believes the Homemaker Centre could become a popular new address for inner-city living.
In neighbouring Eaton the door has already opened to shop-top living with 12 compact apartments above the newly redeveloped Eaton Fair shopping centre.
Manager of Eaton Fair is Mr Prosser’s son Michael, who lives in one of the units above the shopping centre. Eaton Fair is in the Shire of Dardanup, which has encouraged inner city shop-top living.
Michael Prosser says there is strong demand for shop-top living in the region, with nine of the 12 units already occupied. There are plans to build another 40 units over Eaton Fair in the next three years to house a range of tenants including business owners and FIFO workers.
