The supermarket development on Merimbula’s Main Street took a major step forward on Tuesday as construction workers started the concrete pour for the upper level of the 4000 square metre building.
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Underground on the site will be a large car park with a little over 200 spaces that will be accessed from Main Street or via the new service road at the rear of Club Sapphire. Delivery trucks will also use the service road.
There will be another 78 car parking spaces on the street level next to the entrance to the store. They will replace the 147 car parking spaces belonging to the RSL on the original site with additional – almost double – spaces for Woolworths contribution to parking.
Neil Rankin of Rankin Builders has the job of building the supermarket and has over 60 workers on the site. He said he has tried to use local trades as much as possible.
The underground car park also contains an area for an escalator to take people to the upper level.
The concrete pour on Tuesday was the first of six such pours covering the entire street level floor.
“This will be allowed to harden over the Christmas period,” Mr Rankin explained.
As well as organising and managing construction on the big site, Mr Rankin must also manage parking issues especially as the busy Christmas period approaches and pressure on parking in Merimbula mounts.
The company leased part of the adjoining site – which is now under an option from Aldi – as a construction office site from council but the lease finished on December 15.
Project manager Mark Baker said the company was working with council to get the best possible outcome in terms of freeing up parking, for the community.
Most work on the site will stop now and will not recommence until after the holiday break on January 8. This will mean that construction traffic will not be using the car park around the squash courts during that time.
There are a number of possibilities that Mr Rankin said he is discussing with council so that construction workers park offsite and free up the valuable parking spaces around the construction office and squash courts.
Woolworths is expected to move into the finished building by November 21.
In the meantime Aldi is expected to take control of the site in the first half of 2018. The company wanted to take up its option earlier but council had resisted saying that the removal of the existing car parking at such a critical time was not a good idea.
Council, Merimbula Tourism and the Chamber of Commerce had hoped to organise a bus service for the summer period but sufficient funding was not found.
