THE cafe end of Liebig Street has been listed as the second priority in the Warrnambool city centre renewal project because of its economic importance.
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Warrnambool City Council city renewal manager Tanya Egan said the decision also acknowledged the “uniqueness of the dining precinct”.
The strip, from Timor to Koroit streets, will be second in line for improvements after the central shopping block (Lava to Koroit streets) is completed.
Council last week voted on the staging of the CBD renewal, with several councillors disappointed the Raglan Parade entry to Liebig Street wasn’t the first priority.
Ms Egan said when the council applied for funding to plan the project, it was decided by councillors and staff the application should specify sections of Liebig Street, rather than the entire length.
“This was for practical reasons,” she said.
“It was considered unrealistic to apply for funding to renew the entire length of the street because that level of funding was unlikely to be made available and because renewing the entire length of Liebig Street simultaneously would create excessive disruption to the city centre business.”
Ms Egan said the central block was chosen as the first to be renewed because it had the greatest number of vacant shops, was where major retail activity took place and it had the greatest potential for private investment.
“With the northern block (Lava Street to Raglan Parade) facing similar challenges and providing a similar retail mix to the central block, it was considered logical to carry out community engagement and planning for this and the central block simultaneously.
“Renewing the southern block after the central block will help keep the dining precinct intact. To stage the southern block renewal after the central and northern blocks could result in businesses migrating from the southern block to the central or northern blocks.”
She said a community engagement process would be conducted when the southern block renewal was in the planning stage.
“The central and southern blocks offer the greater potential for job creation and private investment which are important in meeting government funding criteria,” Ms Egan said.
She said once the block off Raglan Parade was upgraded in the third stage, people could enter a “completely renewed” commercial and retail space where they would want to spend more time.
