MCU14/0106 & OPW15/0001 Compiled Information Request Response

                                                                                                       Noosa Civic Expansion
                         28 Eenie Creek Road, Noosaville and parts of the road reserves of Hofmann Drive and Walter Hay Drive



            (g) excluding Coolum Beach from the Noosa trade area would not affect Urbis’s findings as both
                the current and future business from this area would be accounted for as 'turnover from
                beyond' the main trade area, meaning the origin of trade from outside the trade area would
                be greater, which also weakens the integrity of the impact analysis in so far as it relates to
                shoppers from outside the trade area.

3.2         Existing Noosa Civic Vacancies
            “The Retail Needs Assessment identifies Noosa Civic as having 4,200m2 of vacant floor space,
            representing a vacancy rate of 14% (as reported in Table 4.1) but the vacancy rate reported in
            Chart 4.1 reports the vacancy rate for Noosa Civic as 9%.
            The Commercial Needs Assessment suggests limited demand for existing commercial office
            vacancies but does not detail the leasing rates at which these are offered.

            Information Required:
            10   Clarify the current extent of vacancies within Noosa Civic.
            11   Details of commercial office leasing rates for vacant premises in Noosa Civic and
                 comparison with rates in other Noosa centres.”
            RESPONSE
            The vacancy rate across the entire centre at the time of reporting is 9%, comprising 2,646m2 of
            vacant floor space in 22 tenancies. The Emporium showroom component and the freestanding
            offices account for approximately 59% of vacant floor space within Noosa Civic.
            A more detailed analysis of the size and number of vacant tenancies across the various centres
            assessed within the trade area is provided in Appendix B – Retail Needs Response to this
            report.

3.3         Vacancy Rates
            “The Retail Needs Assessment suggests reasonable overall vacancy rates for the centres
            network within the identified trade areas but does not adequately assess the proposed
            introduction of a large quantum of new floor space.

            Information Required:
            12   Provide an expanded analysis of the vacancies across the centres network outlined
                 in Table 4.1 of the Retail Needs Assessment. The analysis should include number of
                 vacancies, total vacant floor space, tenancy type/use(s), mean and median vacancy
                 size, and lease rates.”
            RESPONSE
            Additional retail floor space on the site is justified on the basis of market growth, under-provision
            of floor space in the local area, escape spending, market gaps and low impacts, all of which
            reflects local needs not being met.
            The proposed development will account for only 18% of the future retail floor space deficiency
            over the 2014-21 period.
            The Retail Needs Assessment prepared by Urbis and submitted as part of the development
            application appropriately considers the need, demand and impact issues relating to the proposed
            development, and, in particular, thoroughly assesses the impact of the proposed development on
            the network of centres throughout Noosa, as well as the central and northern parts of the
            Sunshine Coast.
            Refer to Appendix B – Retail Needs Response to this report for further details.




June 2015                                            Cardno HRP                                                           13