The developers of a commercial precinct in Charters Towers have struck gold with the signing of a lease for one of the biggest Harvey Norman stores in country Australia.
Goldtower Central is being built on the Flinders Highway bypass route in the historic gold mining town.
Goldtower Central director Paul McIver said they were developing the first of several showrooms now under construction when the staff from Sydney came in.
Mr McIver said previously they’d no interest in leasing and “just jumped in the deep ocean and built with the philosophy of build it and they will come”.
He said when they’d asked the Harvey Norman staff if they wanted to lease space, they answered yes, and later Gerry Harvey signed the lease.
“We are blown away really. We never dreamt we’d get such a national retailer,” Mr McIver said.
The retailer is taking 2132 sqm of showroom space and 550 sqm for warehousing.
Mr McIver said the Harvey Norman staff told them it was one of the biggest stores in a country town in Australia and just under the size of the store in Toowoomba.
He said part of the idea behind the development was to keep trade in the town and bring in new businesses.
“My family have been in business in the Charters Towers region since the 1980s and it is exciting to see the development take on a national retailer such as Harvey Norman,” Mr McIver said.
“We want the community to spend locally, be employed locally and to grow the economy.”
Harvey Norman will start a six-week fit-out of the store this month with an opening expected in April.
The Pioneer Place building in Goldtower Central where Harvey Norman and W Titley and Co will trade in Charters Towers.
The store will have a full suite of furniture, bedding, electrical merchandise and computers.
Another new tenant will be W Titley and Co which is taking 1376 sqm in the same building as Harvey Norman and will open in early March.
Titleys have operated in Charters Towers since 1926 and is synonymous with quality country and western wear.
Goldtower Central will be home to retail, industrial and service-orientated businesses.
Included in the development are symbols of a bygone era with streets named after iconic
local legends, mosaics of paintings by Magnetic Island artist Peter Lawson detailing the goldrush era and the reproduction of a bell tower erected at the entrance to the precinct.
Buildings for Harvey Norman and other retailers represents an investment of about $10 million and is stage one to a larger precinct covering some 22ha.
Tony Raggat, Townsville Bulletin
February 21, 2022
