October 4, 2016
by Anne Miller
Rumours are flying that hardware giant Bunnings has bought highway frontage in Kingaroy which was to have been the site of a multi-million dollar motel development.
That project fell over in late 2015 after initial earthworks had been completed.
On Tuesday, southburnett.com.au spoke to the real estate agents handling the sale of the land who confirmed that the block, which fronts the D’Aguilar Highway, was under contract.
They would not confirm who the interested party was, only to say that it was not a motel development.
No development application has been lodged as yet with the South Burnett Regional Council.
Kingaroy developer Kevin Taylor said he had also heard that Bunnings had bought the motel site.
Bunnings General Manager (Property) Andrew Marks said Kingaroy “remained an area of interest for Bunnings and we would consider opening a store there in the future if the right opportunity became available”.
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Not entirely sure that Bunning’s would see our area as a viable business opportunity considering we already have a large Mitre 10 however if they do come it will almost certainly spell the end of Mitre 10 in Kingaroy.
Why would Bunnings be considering returning to Kingaroy to set up a store. They left many years ago so I assume that they must have thought then that it wasn’t a viable proposition.
If Bunnings was to build on this particular block of land where would the access to same be? It is situated on a bend of the main road into and out of town (southern end) which is far from ideal and there is no access from Rogers Drive currently. I understand that when work was done on this block for the proposed motel building the contractors got in and out via Harris Road.
Hopefully this access route would not be used if Bunnings does purchase and build there otherwise it will be bedlam with traffic going to and from the business.
I also pose the question “Why would a 2nd hardware business build next to an already similar established business (Mitre 10)?” In my respectful opinion if Bunnings are coming to Kingaroy it and the town would be better served if the business was established on the northern side where there is land available for commercial development. It would make more sense to do so.
It was my understanding that when Mr Turner built the now current Mitre10 it was designed and constructed a certain way for two reasons, 1 so that Bunnings would be dettered from coming to Kingaroy and 2, so that if Bunnings did decide to come he could easily sell out to them.