New era for Penrith’s City Centre

Wednesday, 18 November 2015

Council is asking investors for bold ideas for two City Centre sites, at Union Road and Reserve Street.

The Expression of Interest for the sites, released to the market this week, is the next step in transforming the City Centre and bringing the New West to life.

Mayor Karen McKeown says "we are calling for innovative development ideas for the land at these sites. As a significant landowner in the City Centre, we want to use our assets to unlock Penrith's potential. We want to turn big ideas into reality.

"I must stress that there will be no net loss of car parks in the City Centre in the future. Parking is an important facility in our City, but there is real scope here to provide better parking as well as other services, enabling a vibrant City Centre to cater for a growing population."

Penrith will have a population of 260,000 and an economic catchment of over 1 million people by 2031.

It is envisaged the Reserve Street site will suit those wanting to downsize and live close to the City Centre.

The Union Road site could provide residential, leisure, commercial, entertainment and restaurants to support the main street.

The sites fall within, or adjacent to, the Living Well Precinct which will become a modern village for baby boomers looking for easy access to social, recreational and health facilities.

Preferred EOI submissions for the sites, will go through a more thorough examination stage before moving to the standard development application process.

Cr McKeown said Council was looking for partners to grow the local economy, attract investment and create jobs - as well as cater for the parking needs of our growing Regional City.

"As the City grows and prospers, Council has a strategy to consolidate many of our car parks into decked car parking. In fact, the EOI for Union Road calls for development that would provide an additional 1,000 public parking spaces."

The EOI process for the two sites follows ' Penrith Progression: A Plan for Action' released in February, which provides a vision for the City Centre after extensive consultation with residents, business groups, government agencies, investors, the not-for-profit sectors and educational groups.

Invitation to partner

A New West 'Invitation to Partner' document will be formally unveiled to local developers on 3 December.

The document outlines various opportunity sites in the Penrith City Centre, including the Reserve Street and Union Road sites.

Other sites are the City Park Precinct, Carpenters Site, Q Site, Soper Place and Multi-Use Depot (MUD) Site.

"The growth of our Regional City, and all the work done during the Penrith Progression process, means we are able to think boldly about capitalising on our assets to make the City Centre a better place for our community and future generations," Cr McKeown said.

Download the Invitation to partner document.

Information contained within this news release was correct as at Wednesday, 18 November 2015.