Coreen the Cranky Curlew has been using the wide open and covered area of the Whitsunday Shopping Centre car park this week to stay out of the rain, as well as catching up with the locals . .
It seems that Whitsunday is going through yet another transition, this time driven by high rents, that could eventually split this town into four distinct commercial regions:
Airlie Beach - Tourism.
Cannonvale - Banking, Office, Real Estate, Legal.
Blue Bay / Pioneer Bay - Industrial.
Woodwark (around Centro) - Retail.
Rumours are rife of a large increase in rents, not in Airlie Beach this time, but at Whitsunday Shopping Centre, Cannonvale. The increases have upset some of the remaining tenants so much, that there is a good chance that at least three major tenants are seriously considering abandoning the site and either relocating, or abandoning the Whitsundays altogether.
Whitsunday Shopping Centre has quite a lot of its site vacant, including the old Red Rooster, Child Care Centre, Vodaphone and more. Many of the smaller, vacant shops were occupied prior to the dragged out renovations at the centre a couple of years ago, and not many have been re-occupied (full time) since then.
You would have to wonder then why, with 1 in 5 shops vacant in Airlie Beach, and probably more at Whitsunday Shopping centre, would they then be putting up their rents an allegedly 20-25%?
It has been rumoured that Coles, Hungry Jacks and Brumbys bakery are not happy with the rent increases at the Whitsunday Shopping Centre and they are currently seriously considering their options.
If these important, retail tenants leave, then Whitsunday Shopping Centre (and the land around it) could end up being the Banking / Real Estate / Office region, more commonly known in other towns as the Central Business District or CBD.
What does the future hold?
Cannonvale State School is in an interesting position. In the next decade or two, we will probably see it relocate to Cannon Valley or Woodwark, and also probably to see a High School built next to it. The vacant land at its current position will get gobbled up by either expansion of the Cannonvale CBD, or the tourism precinct creeping around Abel Point.
South West Cannonvale (Blue Bay, Carlo Drive, at end of Pioneer Bay) will remain industrial. There is plenty of land in this area for no other industrial area to be considered in the near future. The relocation of the water works in the next decade will open up even more land.
Woodwark will end up as the Retail area of the Whitsundays. New shops are to built across the road from Centro, as well as behind it. Galbraith Park Road is already host to one of the best food retailing shops in the Whitsundays, and it is surrounded by vacant land. Centro has the capacity to grow many times over, if parking becomes multilevel.
Airlie Beach and Abel Point will end up being solely tourism and marine, with support services.
However, this now creates a transport issue. Fortunately, Whitsundays Transit and Whitsunday Taxis run great services here in the Whitsundays, but for some folk in the future, it will be three or four trips on the bus or taxi to go to the Post Office, Bank, Doctors and Shops, for when it previously only took two. That could mean a 100% or more increase in what a person spends just getting to existing essential services.
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