Orange City Council wants to hear from businesses and investors interested in giving a new lease of life to a high profile site at a key entrance to Orange.
The site includes two adjacent lots on the highway at 1 Summer Street and 160 Woodward St.
After restoring the sites of a former corner store and a petrol station, Orange City Council has now added the land to a list of properties which could be sold. This week Orange City Council began seeking 'Expressions of Interest' for the purchase and development of the land.
Orange Mayor Reg Kidd said the site offers a significant opportunity to develop a high profile location.
LOCATION, LOCATION: The site at the intersection of Summer and Woodward Streets is directly opposite from Orange High.
"If you were looking for a high profile location to start a new venture right on the highway and at a key entrance to Orange, you'd be hard-pressed to do better than this," Cr Reg Kidd said.
"Tourists by the thousands use the roundabout that's right out the front of this spot. People on their way to wineries, the lake or Mount Canobolas will drive past this site, so if they are your market, this site is worth looking at."
"Because this site is such a significant site for Orange, we're taking a different path to simply putting it up for sale. We'd like to see a quality development on a site like this. We would like to see a venture that would add to the local neighbourhood and make the most of a strategic intersection.
"The 'Expressions of Interest' path lets the Council look at the quality of what an investor or business has in mind for the site, before we agree to sell.
"The Council has to manage its land assets as best we can for the ratepayers and get the best value we can. On other hand, if a proposal came up which would be a brilliant addition to that neighbourhood and the wider community, then that's something Council would have to seriously consider.
"There's already been a lot of interest in this site and I'm looking forward to seeing what emerges."
The 'Expressions of Interest' form and a detailed information package about the site is available here.
Submissions close on 21 May, 2021.
