By NOEL MURPHY
TORQUAY traders want work with a company proposing a controversial redevelopment of the town’s Gilbert St shopping precinct.
Martin Duke, the outgoing president of Torquay Commerce and Tourism Association, said traders had met representatives of Melbourne-based Luizzi Group to discuss common interests and possible outcomes.
The traders were keen to see any multi-level plans incorporate rooftop housing to help draw residents into the retail hub as a “vibrant” destination.
“We’d like residents on the top of shops instead of continually moving away to the north,” Mr Duke said.
“We’d like a little more intensity in town, something that brings people in so restaurants, food shops and other traders there can do better.
“We want to make it a city centre, a bit like Geelong, with some housing on top of shops – have people living there, make it a more-vibrant and happening place.”
The Luizzi concept, which has been depicted as a giant five-storey, Jetsons-style mega-complex, has been criticised as a “monstrosity” and “the ghastliest piece of architecture for a seaside town … ever seen”.
But Mr Duke said exaggerated concept images had assisted in raising awareness of Torquay’s retail problems and possibilities.
“We met with Luizzi for a bit of a talk about it but they said at this time it’s just a concept plan,” Mr Duke said.
“They don’t own half the area and it’s not going to happen overnight. They’d need to purchase properties or incorporate them into it – it’s years down line.
“They believe the big image was a bit over the top and it’s certainly not green but it’s created a conversation, a starting point.”
Mr Duke said the traders opposed any big-box stores in Torquay’s retail heart.
“We want to find consensus. We don’t want any big box stores, we want to see individual stores, an eclectic mix of good-quality stores.
“We don’t want to see every single franchise, we don’t want to look like the Sunshine Coast, we want people to come for Torquay for the experience.”
The association has been working with Surf Coast Shire over the past six months to develop a Torquay for Tomorrow plan plotting future retail development.
Mr Duke said a key imperative was linking the town’s disparate retail precincts with a mechanism such as a walkway or a covered pedestrian route.
“We want the trade flow to work all way up the street.”
