Letter: Make The Mall viable again! Council has no problem with ‘inner city housing’.

With towns as popular as Katoomba feeling the pinch due to online shopping, they too have to cope with vacant shops in their Main Street.

We have a similar problem.

I have just received verification from Armidale Regional Council that they have no problem with shops in The Mall being converted to become ‘inner-city’ homes.

All we have to do now is encourage young prospective homeowners to buy up the vacant shops and renovate them to 2025 standards for a home:

Solar panels on the roof; induction stove, electric heating/cooling; upgrade bathroom, kitchen. If I wanted to move from the rat-race and had a couple of young kids, I’d jump at this chance of inner-city living…

• save on petrol (a charging station is soon to be available, behind the shops on the southern side in Cinders Lane),
• a block to a park.
• A block to a supermarket;
• dentist on your doorstep; a hairdresser might even come back…even a chemist…even a gift/newspaper shop (smaller than Carr’s).
• And at night – think of the quiet – no barking dogs,
• no verge to mow.
• No potholes; no noise from cars, motor bikes, trucks etc.

If I were a young parent faced with the choice of paying $400,000+ for an ordinary-looking house with enough room for a garage, a swing and veggie-garden, or $250,000 for a two storey ‘shop’…well, I’d take the shop, thank you. It wouldn’t even cost me $200,000 to upgrade. Plenty of parking at the rear.

To buy one of these shops isn’t that costly…add to that the cost of a reno. It wouldn’t be as expensive as buying a house, particularly if renovations were still needed.

Oh, and D.A.’s are only needed if the outside walls of the ‘house’ are changed. (Gosh, I don’t think Council would like that very much!!)

Council only needs to put in two wrought iron fences (with ‘gates’ in the middle) on either end of The Mall (or is it called Armidale Plaza?) and keypads high enough that can be opened only by an adult (wheelchair uses could ask a passer-by to press the keys … 2350 would be a good code) so that children are kept safe inside The Mall. Access to Cinders Lane and, on the other side, “Perrot’s Arcade” would need child-proof gates…but that wouldn’t cost much.

Here, in the centre of Armidale, the Mall would be the ‘backyard’ for kids…a readymade playground at their front door. Boobooks provides plenty of events to keep the mind active; Granny Fi’s Cupboard is always exciting. I’m sure more shops would open if the foot traffic increased.

Coffee? You want coffee? A couple to choose from…but not after 3pm in the afternoon. Perhaps one of the prospective owners could open up the downstairs part of their apartment as a late afternoon tea/coffee cuppa venue. Nice little income without having to pay extra in rates.

The raised beds which, at present, are home to shrubs, could become veggie gardens…children can help with the plantings.(Stockholm has a veggie garden in their main city roundabout! )

In summer, Evening concerts could take place in The Mall; Markets in the Mall would still happen. Even setting up a screen as Sam did for the tennis, would be an option. Play it again, Sam!

Keep an eye out for The Courthouse…soon to reinvent itself! It would be a good place to store the fold up chairs that can be brought out for a concert et al. It’s not beyond the Solicitor in the Mall to buy and rent out a flat…that should be cheaper and easier for the tenant.

This is mainly a call out to Estate agents to get busy; to showcase this opportunity to young parents about the joys of living in a town like Armidale.

Sure, the Estate Agents won’t get as much commission for one of these shops versus a house, but gee, I bet they’d feel good!

Got something on your mind? Go on then, engage. Submit your opinion piece, letter to the editor, or Quick Word now.