Build it and they will come

Mr Sime, who developed the $18 million Moama Marketplace 14 years ago after purchasing the land from long-time landholder Norm Visca, was on the site last week to discuss the proposed development.

In the shadows of a giant Santoso Developments project board Mr Sime took a stance similar to Costner’s character in the famous movie Field of Dreams by suggesting the presence of two major retailers on the site would create a domino effect for the development.

“We’ve had quite a number of inquiries from independent supermarkets about the development,” Mr Sime said.

“We have also had a lot of interest in proposed operators of the 120-place childcare facility, an indoor play centre and high-class restaurant.”

But the priorities for Mr Sime remain McDonald’s and the drive-thru bottle shop operator.

Scott Moller, owner of Deniliquin and Echuca McDonald’s Restaurants, said he was aware that McDonald’s had identified the site for a new restaurant.

“If this project was to go ahead we would be the operators of the store,” Mr Moller said.

“It is the perfect location for a restaurant.”

According to the McDonald’s licensee the multi-national company had done its research on current traffic flow and potential traffic flow past the site.

Once traffic is re-directed across the new bridge it will flow straight past the site, which is adjacent to Moama Marketplace.

Mr Moller said he was unsure of any timeline for the development of the restaurant, but he was confident of the ability of McDonald’s to “make things happen very quickly”.

“They can put up a store in less than six months, all going well,” he said.

“That may be under normal circumstances though, without a shortage of products.

“If there is one thing that Maccas do well, they are very organised.”

Mr Sime explained to The Riv last week that once the McDonald’s and bottle shop were on site he expected there to be a rush of interest from other “big-name” brands for positions within the development.

When we spoke at the site on Wednesday he had grandchildren Beau and Tahlia with him, desperate to have a McDonald’s Restaurant of their own in Moama.

Mr Sime previously owned 4.04ha (10 acres) of land on the opposite side of Perricoota Rd, along with an 34.8ha parcel of land that stretched back to the river.

“We were going to create a 200-berth marina, two years into that before I left town and didn’t finish it,” he said.

Mr Sime said he had come back to “finish a small part of what I started”.

With hotel, shopping centre, childcare, fast food and fuel station developments to his credit all over Australia, Mr Sime said he was confident that there would be something on sight by the end of the year.

“People have been trying to get McDonald’s here for a very long time,” he said.

“There was going to be a fuel station with a McDonald’s Restaurant on Meninya St years ago, but that didn’t go ahead.

“The roadworks will be finished in three months and in another three months’ time we will see the bridge open.”

The McDonald’s location is proposed to be on the roundabout at the junction of Perricoota and Cemetery Rds.

Mr Sime’s plans include 17 other lots, ranging from 500 to 1000 square metres, on site.

“In total, the development is 20,000 square metres,” he said.

Feedback from the community has been flowing into the inbox of the developer’s email address for more than 12 months.

“We had a board up for a year, which invited the local community to tell us what’s they wanted,” he said.

“We got, on average, two responses a day, seven days a week for that whole year.

“People have rung, text, emailed. Asking if they can have Spotlight, an office works or Target or other large format stores plus a bank and another supermarket plus basic retail options.”

Mr Sime said commercial retail centres were the engine of any community.

“But it is no good trying to jump a hurdle too far ahead,” he said.

“Once McDonald’s and the bottle shop is in place they will come.”

A number of parties wanting an upmarket boat and car wash have also made approaches in the latest series of inquiries Mr Sime is considering incorporating into the development.

“We could do it all tomorrow, but we are trying to get some big names involved,” he said.

“The residents of this town want to stand on there own two feet.”

The developer, who has a son and daughter (along with grandchildren) who live in Moama, said people from the NSW tourism haven did not want to have to continually cross the bridge for their retail requirements.

“When I did the marketplace the council told me Moama did not need a retail shopping complex.

“Look at this now,” he said, pointing at the overflowing car park of the Moama Marketplace.

Mr Sime said it was obvious from the feedback he had received that people wanted non-gaming entertainment and other community benefit facilities in their own backyard.

“This is a town which can afford to support its own second development,” he said.

“I liken it to Byron Bay, but without the promotion. Byron has 2.2 million tourists and this area has 1.7 million.

“I would love to think that an energetic and enthusiastic council could turn Moama into a Byron Bay.”

Mr Sime said he was hoping to repeat the success of the Moama Marketplace complex, but at another level again.

“The Woolworths lease at the marketplace was originally 20x20x20 (60 years). Their original numbers were 80 staff. That’s 80 new wages that arrived with the development. Eighty families that suddenly had income,” he said.

“The McDonald’s Restaurant will employ 100-plus people.

“And there will be more with the bottle shop, childcare centre, and so on.”

Not backwards in coming forward Mr Sime has even asked council to rename Cemetery Rd, to give it a more appealing title.

“It is now in council’s side of the court for Moama to move forward and stand on its own,’’ he said.