Revisiting how soon is soon ?

On March 5 last year I wrote a post about a redevelopment of a local shopping centre. The original shopping centre had been built in the late 60s early 70s.
 A friend sent me an old photo that she had found...the old shopping centre was down in a hollow in the centre of the site with the building surrounded by a rather large carpark. The centre contained a supermarket and quite a number of small shops. There was also a reception lounge.

In last year's post I showed photos of the earthworks on the site and pondered the use of the words , 'Opening soon' on the hoardings around the site. Just how 'soon' is 'soon'?

A month or so on from March 2016...

Then in August I was in the suburb checking out the op shops for items for the 60s night that DH and I were going to. So out came the phone and I took some progress photos...

 By the beginning of this year, the huge site appeared to be covered by the building with car park spaces on the roof  and underneath the building. And 'badging' had been done...Coles and Liquorland were the only signs we could see. Cafes? Pharmacy? Newsagency ? No signs any way...

On February 18, the store opened. And perhaps we shouldn't have been surprised to find that the site was completely given over to a Coles supermarket and their subsidiary bottleshop  Liquorland...no small businesses at all.

 

 

It is a huge supermarket! But I'll stick with my smaller local Coles.

Now this shopping centre is near Alderley railway station and parking around Brisbane  stations can be quite challenging as the station carparks fill up very early in the morning Mon-Fri. So there are signs in this new centre informing customers that there is 2 hours free parking. If you stay longer, it is $77. But I think you can stay the whole day for that price! Management claims it is to stop rail commuters from parking there and then travelling to the city.

So in conclusion to answer the question, 'how soon is soon' ? In this case it is a few days short of 12 months! lol 

Changes...

Once upon a time a group of farmers from Lancashire settled in an area in the north of the fledgling settlement of Brisbane. The area, which would become known as Everton Park, was covered in scrub, much of which was cleared for grazing and vineyards. This photo was taken in 1910 and shows South Pine Rd, with Stafford Rd intersection on the left, mid photo. The man on horseback is the postman (that track/road where the postman's horse is standing is Gordon Pde) who has brought mail from Alderley.

The suburb remained quite rural until after WW2 when huge tracts of housing were built in the area. Then in the late 1950s, a huge warehouse/distribution centre for an early supermarket chain, Brisbane Cash and Carry (BCC) was built on land bounded by Sth Pine Rd and Stafford Rd. (At various times I've written posts about those paddocks of Murphy's Dairy seen beside the warehouse buildings...the remnants of which still exist to this day.)

Those readers who know Brisbane might notice the TV towers on the range.

BCC would be eventually taken over by Woolworths and the complex would be a big employer of local residents. A Woolworths' supermarket was built in the 60s/70s but it had long been abandoned when I moved to the suburb. Eventually though the complex was moved to Acacia Ridge and the site languished. 

Over the years plans for redevelopment of the site by the owners, Woolworths, were submitted for approval ; some plans were rejected outright and the owners of close-by shopping centres put in objections and one development company decided to pull out. But eventually early in 2014 things started to happen.

The demolition took months!! As well as the big warehouse buildings and the old supermarket, the big trees on the site were demolished too...

And I took photos on my phone or camera whenever I noticed progress on the build.
Obviously a lot of earthworks after demolition and carting off of all those bricks from the buildings!

 The site is so big that there are 2 frontages. The next photo shows the work from the old entrance on Southpine Rd...

 Then suddenly in August 2014, (well us locals felt it was sudden...one day nothing, then next day!) large walls appeared...this was the new Woolies supermarket...

Eventually work began on another building on the site...Masters a hardware store.

In the meantime work continued on the new supermarket and shops...

Showing construction progress from Dec 2014 to April 2015

And then the box shaped buildings at the other end of the site began to 'morph' into the familiar looking Masters...showing photos taken January to April 2015

And of course by late April this year, there needed to be lots of tidying up and landscaping the site as it was to open for business in May...

The supermarket was the first to open. DH and I went for a look a few days after the official opening...
The balloon arch was still there from the Opening :-)

 Above the entrance to the supermarket is a collage mural of the original buildings on the site...

 These 2 gentlemen are obviously VIPs from the Distribution Centre Days...

 The exterior,,,

 Looking north...food outlets and a gym.

Now one more photo...the corner of Stafford Rd and Sth Pine Rd...photo taken yesterday. Its a bit different from that first photo in this post! The corner I'm referring to is behind the postman in that old photo.

DH and I still continue to shop at the Coles supermarket across the road as the staff know us. We also continue to patronise our usual coffee shop instead of the fancy new one near the Woolies' supermarket entrance.

Another development in the street...

When DH and I arrived back home from overseas in early May, there was a Notice of Proposed Development sign on the two houses across the road. The renter in the house directly opposite had to vacate that property by the end of June. In late July the owner started clearing trees on the site. I 'had my eye' on some bromeliads which grew beside one house. I felt guilty about just going over and taking some, and the owner/developer seem to be popping by at all different times but I hadn't had the courage to ask if I could have the plants.

Then early one morning I heard trucks outside, so quickly got dressed and grabbed the camera as I thought that the demolition was about to start.

I called out to the owner, 'So today is the day is it'? He replied that the equipment was just to flatten the garden beds between the 2 houses...so I then asked if he minded if I took some bromeliads. He didn't but suggested I be quick about it before the machinery was unloaded. So a quick trip back home to get some gardening gloves and a plastic bag...

 I grabbed an armful and all have been planted in various spots around our garden

The garden bed on the other side of the house was left untouched, so quite early next morning ,while dressed in my nightie and dressing gown, I went back and got an armful of agave plants...DH was inside watching the golf on TV so no photos that time! lol
These plants will remind me of Phillip the young man who rented the house for 6 or so years and was a landscape gardener and really made the yard of the rented house look lovely.

Both houses will be demolished and 7 houses will be built on each block. So dust and noise for a long time yet.
Those who followed the saga of the 7 new houses next door to us...they are all available for rent. Only 1 has been rented at $510 per week. The rumour on the street is that the unrented ones are now offering lower rent of $470 p/w...no renters equals no returns for all those new owners.