Victor Harbor | Developments & News

[bmw boy]

yeh, but they dont want this new shopping centre do they?

[rhino]

Many businesses get into trouble by trying to service too many clients without adequate staffing and infrastructure, the same can happen with a town.

Well said. Take a look at Page 2 of today's Advertiser for confirmation.

[Bulldozer]

Half the reason why some of these places in SA don't grow and become profitable is because its too damn risky to get there .. our roads are poor and all you hear each week is about another death on the Adl to Victa Road.

Bit of an exaggeration there! Seriously, the Victor Harbor Road is a good road. Most accidents on it happen because of impatient drivers. Having grown up in the McLaren Vale area, I used to drive that road quite a bit. Friday nights and Sunday afternoons are the most dangerous times on that road because you get wankers from Adelaide speeding, tailgating and overtaking on double lines, blind corners, etc. in what I can only presume is an effort to maximise their time down there by a few minutes. Even if there's an overtaking lane less than 1km ahead, people are so impatient they'll overtake! I've seen more dangerous and stupid driving on that road than I care to remember. It's a pretty drive anyway, so why not enjoy the scenery on your way down?

[bmw boy]

The scenerey of Red and Black posts marking deatsh and injuries...

The surroundings of the road can be picturesque, but depending on the way this would be built such scenes could still be enjoyed.

[Norman]

I have actually noticed a reductions in crashes and deaths on the road. They have extra overtaking lanes now, and that can only be good news.

[Ben]

From the Advertiser:

A MAN-made 2.5ha saltwater lake is the centrepiece of an $80 million residential development at Victor Harbor.

The first stage of the Franklin Island development will be released on Saturday with 21 lakeside allotments starting at $147,500.

Ian Marker, general manager of the site's developer, Adelaide Development Company, said the interest in the project had been "extraordinary".

"Franklin Island is a very unique product that is likely to be the last of its kind in the town of Victor Harbor," he said.

Overall, 110 land allotments, ranging in size from 374sqm to 548sqm, will be released over the next few years.

Mr Marker said he expected combined land and house prices to total between $600,000 and $800,000. Construction of houses will begin this year.

Situated on the site of the former Victor Harbor trotting track, the development is close to the town centre, Encounter Bay and The Bluff.

When plans were first drawn up more than 15 years ago, a marina style outlet into the Inman River was proposed. In recent years, concerns over the water quality and circulation of the saltwater lake – which is connected to nearby Encounter Lakes – made developers consider an outlet pipe to the river but it was rejected for environmental reasons.

The developers finally gained local council approval last year, allowing construction of the lake to begin in September.

Victor Harbor Council Mayor Mary-Lou Corcoran said many of the houses on the site would be "well-suited" to a more youthful age bracket.

"We'd love to think we'd attract a younger generation to our community," she said.

"This is a very good development, which is going to bring a high-quality of accommodation to the area."

Land at Franklin Island will go on sale at the estate from 10am on Saturday.

[Omicron]

It's a fairly small area, so I'm intrigued to see that the developers are willing to go to the expense of creating a lake for only 110 allotments. A very nice spot, mind you.

[Norman]

Funny thing is, Victor Harbor already has a Ring Road, complete with Overpasses and the such.

[danielphin]

A pic i took 2 months ago of the location, looked like a huge mess at the time:

[danielphin]

This billboard was erected about 2 weeks ago, it outlines that BIGW and 20 "specialty" stores will be built.

As a Victor Harbor resident, I'll keep you posted with any updates



edit: this should add better context

[Omicron]

I've never seen that shopping centre fully-tenanted, and I'm not surprised given it's a dark, scribbly little thing. Anything done to that centre will be an improvement.

[danielphin]

Agreed, the whole center needs to get some natural lighting in there, its very dark in some places, and where its not, fluorescents rule.
Regarding Tenancy, all shops have always been filled, there's one space that never gets filled, probably because of the aforementioned dark areas of the mall.

[SRW]

Report backs Victor shopping plan
ABC News Online, 19/11/08
A report has backed plans for a big new shopping centre proposed at Victor Harbor.

It already has major project status, meaning it will be assessed by the South Australian Cabinet rather than the local council.

A report has concluded the $250 million project by the Makris Group at Encounter Bay would be generally positive for the community.

The public environment report says there would not be serious detrimental environmental, social or economic effects.

Victor Harbor Council has questioned whether the proposed complex is needed.

City manager Graeme Maxwell says its economic modelling has shown it is bigger than the community needs.

"Our advice was that the capacity for our retail to grow was nowhere near the size that this project is putting forward," he said.

"I think we were looking at about a 15-year horizon with our projections. Probably in 15 or 20 years' time this may be appropriate but [it] wasn't considered appropriate to the size of our community at this point in time."

Mr Maxwell thinks the State Government should leave control of the process at the local level.

"It is a large development and we don't deal with things of this magnitude all that often, if at all, but I think the council and the local community would prefer to see those decisions being considered and made at the local level," he said.

A public meeting will be held early next month to discuss the proposal.

I suspect this 'report' was government-commissioned. I'm still very concerned about this -- it's just not that type of development I think Victor needs.

[rhino]

I'm concerned about the date - apparently that article hasn't been written yet!??!

[SRW]

Ha. Corrected.