#PROJECTS: Mackay

[JayT]

Wow this city is going off - and has been completely forgotten.

Population of appx 75,000 and growing fast!!

Mackay Harbour


CBD with the Pioneer River


Some Projects from www.realestate.com.au
Most going on happens to be in the Marina District of Mackay.

Some random shots first.






Marina District -


Captains Corner Development - Marina


Regatta - i think this one is already built.


jt

[Oriolus]

Wow, I was really suprised by the development at the marina.
This website about Mackay Marina Village has information about all those highrises.
http://www.mackaymarina.com/frameset.htm
The one with red blades down the front is 8 storeys & called Admiralty Towers!
The crane in the third shot might be at Regatta Beach - not sure

Or maybe its the big one UC on the right.

The CBD doesn't seem to have any highrises yet. Here's a nice pic.


However Citimark are planning a 2 storey retail & restuarant precinct, Mackay Markets, on old Mater Hospital site (cnr Gordon, Sydney & Brisbane Sts) which could act as a catalyst for further development.

[JayT]

Thanks for the info Oriolus. I am sure I remember some highrise last time I was there. I remember it had a nice and very modern looking city hall building.

One thing that amazes me about Mackay is the sprawl - it must be the sprawliest city in Australia. Looking at those CBD shots it is as if there are no suburbs but they are all 'sprawled' out of view.

jt

[BrizzyChris]

One thing that bugs me, and you see it in a lot of smaller Australian towns, is parking in the middle of the street. Even Noosa has some.

[Gertzy]

Well good on Mackay, It's one of the best cities in Australia and I got to say, its really going off down there. The last time I was in Mackay, there was only two towers in that marina project. And I think that Tom hedley was trying to do an 8 storey development in The Mackay CBD about Two years ago

[Oriolus]

Posted by JayT in Townsville projects thread:

"Mercure Grand Suites Mackay" and is 7 stories and will contain 80 1 and 2 bedroom suites situated between Wood and Gregory Streets. It will be incorporated into the newly refurbished Centerpoint Shopping Center, completion in mid 2006.

This should really stand out in Mackay's CBD.

[Gertzy]

It just might really stand out for Mackay.

[Oriolus]

Mackay City Council has released the Wharf Precinct Masterplan for public comment - a strip of development along the Pioneer River. It looks quite exciting - includes provision for residential development up to 10 storeys.

For more info - http://www.mackay.qld.gov.au/about_m...t_master_plan2

[JayT]

I noticed the Queensland Government is trying to make southerners move to cities like Mackay rather than settling in the South East. This will make Mackay more attractive to southern migrants.

jt

[JayT]

Mackay City Central project

UrbisJHD, as principal consultant of a multi-disciplinary consortium, has recently completed a comprehensive revitalisation strategy for Mackay’s city centre.

Mackay City Council and the Queensland government initiated the project after an economic analysis identified city centre decline as one of the critical issues to be addressed in lifting the regions economic performance. As part of the process to secure state government funding, Mackay City Council commissioned the UrbisJHD consortium to develop a detailed business case for a multi-purpose facility that would act as one of the major revitalisation catalysts.

The city centre of Mackay is at risk of losing it’s pre-eminence due to the loss of key activity generators and activities. The aim of the revitalisation strategy was to develop strategies, initiatives and actions based on “competitive place principles” which, if implemented in combination, would assist in addressing the current problems.

The strategy was developed through continuous consultation and review from key stakeholders. The consultation process developed for the study also included the establishment of a “shop front” in the city centre to assist in the dissemination of information to interested community members. Other aspects of consultation included newsletters, web updates, public meetings and key stakeholder interviews.
Source:http://www.urbis.com.au/s_ph_urban_design.htm
______________________________________________________________________________________
jt

[Gertzy]

Just something to refresh this forum, an old photo of the Mackay Port Authority site www.mackayports.com in the port photo gallery. It has a reasonably old photo of the Marina Development. Probably more newer than the bottom two pictures of the Marina Development in Jay T's post. This picture is quite odd, It has Two Giagantic mobile cranes building one of the developments there but why the need for such a huge crane.

[Gertzy]

A Couple more of the Mackay Marina Village Development.







Enjoy.

[Oriolus]

Nice pics - that crane is huge - looks like it would have been building Admiralty Towers (one with red blades down the front) - at 9 storeys it would probably be Mackay's tallest wouldn't it?

[Gertzy]

I guess so, Admiralty as you said is 9 stories, and because there is no other buildings that high in Mackay, I guess It is the Tallest, the others are also probably the other tallests in Mackay until the Mercure Suites is built.

That Cranes would be at least 90m, if admiralty is around mid 20's to 30m then that crane would be somewhere around 90-100m. Because, that crane is 3-4x the size of admiralty. So I'm a bit baffled, why the large crane.

[Gertzy]

Originally Posted by Oriolus

Wow, I was really suprised by the development at the marina.
This website about Mackay Marina Village has information about all those highrises.
http://www.mackaymarina.com/frameset.htm
The one with red blades down the front is 8 storeys & called Admiralty Towers!
The crane in the third shot might be at Regatta Beach - not sure

Or maybe its the big one UC on the right.

I'd say that Crane is at regatta Beach, The Big one UC on the Right is the now operating Mackay Marina International Hotel.

[Gertzy]

Well Here's some new Pictures off the Mackay Marina Website.


This picture proves that the crane was at Regatta, one on left.


This is an Overview, with the completed Marina International Hotel on the left corner.


One of the new Marina International


One image form behind the development with a 3-d Captains corner infront, Just to thr right, you can see regatta UC.

So Two more developments To go.
Captains Corner and the one UC which is the top model of J T's first post on this thread.

[Oriolus]

Big News for Mackay - I think this will be their new tallest, certainly in the CBD anyway.

Latitude Mackay
10 storeys
61 apartments
due to begin construction June 2005 with completion Nov 2006

check out>
http://www.realestate.com.au/cgi-bin...=&fmt=&header=
http://www.domain.com.au/Public/Prop...2004863016&n=#

[Gertzy]

So thats Two new Buildings in the Mackay CBD, with this Latitude and The Grand Mercure (I Wonder why its a Grand Mercure, and not just a Mercure Hotel).

[Oriolus]

Looks like Mackay's CBD is really about to boom. Here's another one:
Rivage - 10 storeys - 57 apartments. To be launched in June
http://www.prd.com.au/real-estate-se...de=pryqrivage#

[MackayMB]

I was born here in Mackay, and I love it here!. I have seen it transformed from a mediocre town, into the thriving city it is today. The amount of development planned for the next few years is amazing. According to the latest figures, Mackay has the highest growth % outside of south east qld. Of course everyone knows about the Marina, but there is going to be so much more than that here very soon.

Latitude seems to be attracting a lot of attention. It is due to commence very soon. Same with the Mercure Grand Suites Mackay. Then there is the Convention Precinct, which will truely change the face of Mackay. The convention centre (partially on the site of the now demolished Prince of Wales hotel, and next to the Forgan Bridge) is due to start later this year, and not far from there, will be at least 3 apartment blocks, namely the redevelopments on the sites of the Leichardt, and the Crown and Anchor hotels, and also another on the site of the seafresh building. There is a hotel/apartment complex due to start in early 2006 on the crn of River and Nelson streets.

Development is also spreading its wings further afield. The Beach Mackay, is a $150 million complex, to be built at Illawong Beach. Although not much has been released about it, it seems as though the majority of the buildings will be about 5-7 floors.

Recently, I heard a rumour that approval has been given for an apartment building on the northern side of the river. So as you can see, there is a phenominal amount of development here. I think that Mackay is about to become a place to be taken seriously, as a place that is equal to many other cities in QLD.

And just to clear something up. There seems to be a lot of debate about the population of Mackay. some say 75,000, others 140,000. The reality is something that is a bit unusual for northern queensland. Unlike townsville and Cairns, Mackay is surrounded by many smaller towns, most within 35 km. The current urban population is about 84,000. But when you start to include the people who live in the satelite towns, within the radius of about 35 km, such as Sarina, Marian, Mirani, Walkerston, Farleigh, Habana, Bakers Creek, and Eton, then the population increases considerably, to roughly 98,000. But, when you add the entire popuation of the region that Mackay services, which include the shires of Mirani, Nebo, Sarina, Belyando, and Whitsunday then you start talking about roughly 150,000. So, when you look at these figures, Mackay should be considered as a much larger city, than the urban population suggests. Hope I have been able to shed some light on what Mackay is all about.