CONSULTATION with the community will be a top priority in deciding the future of Renmark’s Westpac bank building, according to the local council.
Renmark Paringa councillors passed a motion at last month’s general meeting to develop an expression of interest for market regarding an “innovative long-term future use” of the Westpac building located on Murray Avenue.
Renmark Paringa director of corporate and community services Tim Pfeiffer said a redevelopment of the Renmark Visitor Information Centre (VIC), or a location for the proposed Riverland Food and Wine Centre, were early potential options for the building.
“There are a couple of options we know about,” he said.
“We do ultimately want to do something with our VIC. We had previously budgeted to build a brand new one, but we think this is possibly a better way of achieving the same result.
“It’s such a prominent location in town… it’s right at the main intersection and overlooking where we’re constructing our Urban Design Framework for the river bank.
“Being able to have some prominent business, or businesses, operating out of there would be an amazing opportunity for us to consider.”
It was confirmed last month Westpac would relocate and co-occupy the BankSA building at the end of its current lease.
Mr Pfeiffer said councillors wanted to see extensive communication with local residents before a final decision was made.
“It was pretty clear from our meeting that members are keen to do some really good, meaningful public consultation on this matter,” Mr Pfeiffer said.
“Council has owned the building since 2000 and we’ve gotten to the point where Westpac have signalled they want to exit that tenancy and co-locate with the existing BankSA.
“That leaves us with an amazing opportunity… it’s something we’re keen to go out and understand what the market would potentially be able to go, then to bring those options back and have a genuine discussion with the community about them.
Mr Pfeiffer said Westpac would be required to pay rent on the building until the end of 2020, with a six-month notice period on their tenancy beginning in June.
“They’re looking to move on from mid-May, but they can only give us notice of their intention to terminate from June,” he said.
“We anticipate it will be late-December that the tenancy will cease.”