Green light for Googong's new shopping centre with supermarket, cafe, bar, gym and childcare

Construction of Googong’s first major shopping precinct could begin as early as July with Queanbeyan City Council giving the development the green light.

The council approved last week the North Googong project, which will bring a 1000-square-metre supermarket and the region’s first 20 apartments to the township.

Allied health services, a childcare centre, a gym, specialty retailers, a cafe and bar and 145 car parking spaces are also on the cards.

ACT-based construction and project management company Iqon is managing the project, which is due to be completed by late 2017.

Queanbeyan City mayor Tim Overall said the council voted unanimously to approve the construction of the village.

It will consist of three buildings, one with ground-floor commercial space and two levels of units, one housing the supermarket and a third encompassing a childcare centre and community centre.

Mr Overall said Queanbeyan City Council would use the community centre, which had been designed in consultation with community services staff.

“It’s a vastly growing area and the whole complex is being designed as a vibrant neighbourhood centre,” he said.

“The whole Googong township is world class in terms of sustainable development and setting benchmarks for the rest of the country.”

In April, Googong was awarded the Green Building Council of Australia’s first five-star rating in the ACT and NSW region.

The town is currently serviced by a small shopping hub including the Yellow Belly Cafe and General Store and the Club Googong pool and gym.

Googong project director Malcolm Leslie said Googong’s first neighbourhood centre was a “huge milestone” for the community.

He said the centre formed an integral part of the Googong vision for a sustainable township.

“By the time the shops open there will be 3000 people living in Googong,” Mr Leslie said.

“Residents will have community facilities on their doorstep. The township itself and this first neighbourhood is designed so that the vast majority of people who live there are within walking distance to the shopping centre.”

Higher density development will be centred around the shopping precinct and it will taper off to lower density housing on the fringe of the neighbourhood.

Laing+Simmons is managing the sales and leasing of the development’s retail units, while Independent Property Group is managing residential unit sales.

Laing and Simmons Commercial managing director Alex Smith said the development would provide an exciting central hub of activity for Googong residents.

He said the Vista apartments had been designed to appeal to first home buyers and investors, “an important element at a time when first home buyers are finding it really tough to enter the property market”.

There have been 1300 homes sold at Googong, 400 of these homes are occupied and about 1200 people are living in the new town.