Byron Bay's new environmentally friendly shopping centre looking for tenants with 'unique ideas'
What could eventually be the greenest shopping complex in regional Australia is on the hunt for tenants – but they need to have a distinctly ‘Byron Bay’ flavour if they’re going to be approved.
The Mercato on Byron – a two-storey, 8500-square-metre development on Jonson Street, in the northern NSW town – will feature 28 tenancies and be anchored by a new 3500-square-metre Woolworths supermarket and cinema complex.
Sophie Christou, principal of Raine & Horne Byron Bay, said there was a list of requirements for prospective tenants and confirmed that the focus would be on stores offering a local flavour.
“Mercato on Byron will align perfectly with Byron Bay’s culture, and is the result of consultation with the Byron Shire Council and the developers Azzura International and Wingate,” Ms Christou said.
“We want to keep it vibrant, organic and innovative – we’re looking for people who have unique ideas.”
Before the complex was approved in 2014 it had attracted the ire of some local councillors who were concerned about the building’s height and that it might allow fast food outlets such as KFC and McDonald’s.
Byron Shire Council confirmed that a final decision on tenants would be up to the developer, but the council’s director of sustainable environment and economy, Shannon Burt, said “the original intent of the owner was to keep the shops ‘Byron like’ “.
Demand for the shops was expected to be strong, Ms Christou said, as retail vacancies in Byron were rare.
“There’s not many vacancies at all [at the moment],” she said. “Usually during winter there’s a few vacancies, but right now there’s none.
“Woolworths have already signed on as the anchor tenant, with a new store to be constructed on the ground floor of the shopping centre, while other tenants include Palace Cinema, Cicchetti Byron Bay and a handful of boutique specialty retailers and eateries,” Ms Christou said.
Expressions of interest had also been called for an artisan bakery, delicatessen, barber, cobbler, gourmet grocer, fitness/wellness operator, homewares, a gallery and event space operator.
Ms Christou said tenants would be encouraged to incorporate natural and recycled materials, and living plants wherever possible, in keeping with the Byron Bay ethos.
The centre aims to be the country’s first regional shopping complex to achieve a Five Star Green Star rating when it opens in the second half of 2018.
“Key elements in the Mercato on Byron’s green rating will include the use of solar electricity, recycled materials, natural light and ventilation, and greywater harvesting throughout the complex,” said Ms Christou.
The centre will also feature vertical gardens, electric car charging bays and bicycle parking.
