By MICK ROBERTS.
The former Railway Guest House, now owned by Woolworths.
A NEW supermarket and speciality shop development for the old Cavion scrap yard site at Bulli should be open and trading in time for Christmas 2015.
A Woolworths spokesperson told The Bulli Times the 3,800sqm supermarket will feature a modern design, with a BWS liquor store and 400sqm of speciality retail space. There will be more than 170 on-site car parks available.
The spokesperson said it will create 220 retail and construction jobs in the local area.
Woolworths would not be drawn on what they intend to do with the historic former Bulli Railway Guest House, which sits in the path of one of the driveways into the 15,768sqm site bounded by the South Coast Railway, the Princes Highway, Molloy Street and Station Street.
“Woolworths will look for an appropriate outcome for the Bulli Railway Guest House in due course,” the spokesperson said.
Heritage groups have called for the 1886 heritage listed building to be restored by Woolworths and leased either for retail or residential purposes.
Wollongong council is the lackey of corporations like woollies, they don’t serve the public at all.
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Posted by jill walker | October 25, 2014, 11:29 amJill, as most local folk are aware WCC have to abide by the appropriate legal, planning & zoning laws or they risk getting rolled in the Land & Environment Court (at great expense to the ratepayers). What legal, planning or zoning laws are you suggesting that WCC have flouted “lackey style” for the benefit of this development?
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Posted by Bluey | October 30, 2014, 6:53 amWe should take this opportunity and try to get Wollongong Council to plan for the future of existing businesses in Bulli which face the Highway to be accessed from Railway Street. With a bit of urban design thought the area west of the station could become an interesting and vibrant restaurant/ craft / art/ antique / food market area.
The Bulli Black Diamond Railway Heritage centre is already an established attraction on the eastern side, and it is clear that the existing shops are going to face difficulties with the threat of more Clearway restrictions as well as competition from Woolworths.
There is plenty of parking and many of the shops could re orientate to face Railway St like Liquorland has done already (though with little imagination).
Railway Street should be more than just a “back door entrance to Woolies”, but it would need proper planning, AND it needs to be done in conjunction with and with the support of Woolworths to ensure that opportunities to save (and restore?) the Railway Guest House are part of the planning process.
I was in Milton on the weekend, and the way they have provided connectivity with lanes and arcades from the shops west of the Highway to the laneways and areas to the west is a good example of what can be done over time. I see no reason why Bulli could not make the most of its “Black Diamond heritage” name and make this area come alive, instead of waiting for Woolworths to suck the life out of the shopping centre.
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Posted by Ross Dearden | October 27, 2014, 5:51 am