Hervey Bay Gossip

A combination of a less than stellar whale season followed by bad weather over the Christmas holidays has certainly placed quite a bit of pressure on some tourist related businesses in Hervey Bay and in the past month  we’ve seen two more local businesses shut up shop. The well-known Bayview Motel has closed and the Fighting Whiting is no longer available for fishing charters.

The Fighting Whiting is for sale but in these tough times it’s unlikely to attract much interest.

Wednesday is crunch day for Centro for it’s on that day that the company either has to get approval from the banks to extend their debt repayment or go into receivership.

If the banks do give Centro extra time then the company has a chance to sell off a number of the shopping complexes that it lists as assets. Centro Hervey Bay will not be one of them though for ownership of that complex here in town is shared between Centro and another retail investor who apparently holds an option to buy out Centro’s share.

You can read the full story here on the Sydney Morning Herald’s website.

It certainly could be but whether or not such a sale will occur may well depend on how much pressure Centro’s creditors can apply to the company. The Sydney Morning Herald has published an interesting article on the status of the Centro Properties Group here

Back on February 8 Strewth asked if the development bubble had burst here in Hervey Bay, something that the Gossip has been wondering about for some months now. Several times we’ve mentioned that there has been a slowdown for small business here in town and pointed to the slow take up of some commercial developments as a sign that things are not going as well for Hervey Bay as it might otherwise appear.

It’s been known for a while that the last whale watching season was not as good for operators as previous seasons have been.  Then we had the wet weather over Christmas that really hurt a number of the tourism related businesses here in town. Poor tourist seasons have a flow-on effect for the rest of the town and if thathose poor seasons weren’t bad enough other factors have also had an impact here.

The upwards creep in interest rates, the cessation of work on the Centro expansions and the collapse of a major building contractor hasn’t helped the situation either so we seem to be in for some interesting times in the months ahead and perhaps we really will see a slowdown in development here in Hervey Bay.

So let’s take a look at some of the affected areas around Hervey Bay.

The resort site in Freshwater Street Hervey Bay that has seen no work since the fencing went up just after Christmas.

One of two construction sites between the Esplanade and Watson Street Pialba. This site seems to have some work going on while work on the other may have stopped.

Courses at the University of Southern Queensland here in Hervey Bay may have been slashed but construction work on the extensions is still proceeding. There were workers on site when this photo was taken last Saturday.

A commercial development in Luizzi Street Hervey Bay that was completed in October. Of the nine units available in the development only three are occupied. Construction of a proposed new development across the road has not yet begun.

These units in Central Avenue Hervey Bay were completed late last year … all of them remain unoccupied.

And out at the industrial estate at the airport things aren’t much different. There’s a lot of empty land, a few commercial complexes going up, one or two that have been occupied and others like this one.

It certainly seems that development has slowed here in Hervey Bay and you would have to wonder if other developments along the Esplanade will now proceed.

Is the redevelopment of the corner of Fraser Street and the Esplanade still to go ahead? A few of the affected shops are empty but nothing more appears to be happening.

Unfortunately this is a town that depends on development so things may not be too bright for Hervey Bay in the short term. And that ‘term’ may be longer than many might hope for because we’re now about to become part of a much larger regional council area and the needs of this area will have to be balanced with the needs of the other areas that are to be amalgamated with Hervey Bay.

It’s good to see that Strewth - the blog that throws a light on the less attractive side of Hervey Bay politics and local development - is back after a short break. It’s also good to see that it doesn’t seem to have lost any of its sting.

I was interested to see that the Gossip even rated a mention when one contributor referred to a rather unpleasant episode late last year when someone thought it would be smart to post a comment on Strewth in my name. It’s nice to know that my ramblings here seem to get under someone’s skin.

In that reference to the Gossip on the latest edition of Strewth the contributor also referred to a post I made on September 26 2005 about the Urangan Beach Front in which I made some rather unflattering comments about Peppers. Thanks Jonangel for reminding me of what I said; interestingly now that it’s built I haven’t changed my mind about that development at all.

It may not be quite the eyesore that it was when it was being built but it certainly hasn’t been the great boon to the local economy that some might have hoped. Just ask some of the small business people who, instead of finding that their businesses have boomed because of Peppers, have found that they’ve actually lost money instead.

All that Peppers really seems to have done for Hervey Bay is to pull in other developers and property groups and push up commercial rents to the point where local businesses simply can’t afford to stay in business. And if you doubt that all you have to do is take a drive along Main Street Pialba, Liuzzi Street and Bay Drive to see how many ‘For Lease’ signs are on display.

In Liuzzi Street a new development of 10 units that opened in mid-October still only has three tenants. The new commercial units in Bay Drive have been available for several months and still have no tenants and down in Main Street very high rents have kept quite a few shops opposite Pialba Place vacant for many months.

The end seems near for the Centro group of companies now that trading in Centro shares has been halted on the stock exchange. You can read that story here

What that will mean for Centro Hervey Bay and the extensions that were started before Christmas is anyone’s guess but the site was open last week although there didn’t seem to be much work being done there (that could have been due to the wet weather).

 Perhaps we’ll see more work on site if the weather clears up during this coming week.

The State Government has announced the trading hours for the coming Christmas Period. Hervey Bay falls into what is described as a designated tourist are.

Large retail shops will close on Christmas Day throughout Queensland, but will be open for trade on Boxing Day, December 26, and New Years Day in South East Queensland and designated tourist areas.

Employment and Industrial Relations Minister John Mickel said small independent retail shops will also be closed on Tuesday, December 25, except if they are predominantly food and/or grocery shops.

“Shops such as chemists, service stations, newsagents, take away food shops, bakeries, nurseries can trade at any time they wish,” Mr Mickel said.

“Trading hours for the large department stores and supermarkets on Boxing Day and New Years Day will be from 9am-6pm in South-East Queensland and 8.30am-5.30pm in designated tourist areas.”

Mr Mickel said that Westfield Chermside Shopping Complex may trade continuously from 8am on Thursday December 20 until 9pm, Friday, December 21 as it has in recent years.

Other areas in Brisbane and some major regional cities can trade until midnight on Friday, December 21.

Stores operate normal training hours on Christmas Eve, Monday, December 24.

It seems that the development boom here in Hervey Bay is beginning to run well ahead of the ability of Telstra and Ergon to provide essential services.

Yesterday Strewth! reported on a situation in Pialba where a tenant of a new building was unable to move into the premises because Telstra had no capacity at the Pialba exchange to handle a new client and Ergon had reached the limit of its ability to provide power to the street where the new building was located - a street that continues to see a lot of new developments going up.

You can read the full story by following this link

Hervey Bay takes another step into the aviation industry.

Hervey Bay has been selected  by Observair as its base for operations within Queensland. Observair, a wholly owned subsidiary of Southern Aerospace, provides specialised aerial surveillance, spotting and asset management services to numerous Government organisations. 

Using the worlds most advanced and efficient single-engine fixed-wing aircraft, the Seabird Seeker, Observair has recently been approved to provide aerial support to the Victorian Rural Fire Service and has submitted tenders to both Queensland and New South Wales for the forthcoming fire season.

With an unrivalled and unobstructed 270 degree field of vision from the cockpit, the Seeker allows quick and precise detection of targets “without the need of covering the same ground twice”. Managing Director of Southern Aerospace, Mr Jon Davies said “until one experiences flight in the Seeker, it is difficult to understand that there is simply no other fixed-wing aircraft capable of doing what the Seeker does.

“It provides the visibility of a helicopter and lower operating costs than a Cessna 172”. He added “and being a new fully certified Lycoming powered GA aircraft, it will prove more reliable and less expensive to operate than 20-30 year old Cessna sometimes used in such roles.

“Being a major regional airport, Hervey Bay was chosen as our Queensland base because all facilities are available, Seabird Aviation Australia the Seeker’s manufacturer is based there, airport and hangarage costs are still reasonable, and personnel can be conveniently located from elsewhere with Hervey Bay’s direct connections”.  Plans are in place so that by mid 2008 an additional 4 pilots and 4 maintenance staff will be employed.

For long range patrols requiring a faster cruise speed, Observair operates Australia’s only twin-engine fixed-wing specialised observation aircraft, the Partenavia Observer. With a seven hour endurance at 150kts, full glass nose section and convex side bubble observation windows, the Partenavia provides a comfortable, air conditioned environment from which to co-ordinate fire attack roles or spot lightning strikes after a storm front.

The Partenavia is fitted with dual five-place audio panels, numerous VHF and RFS radios, an HF radio and is fully IFR equipped and capable.

Together, the Seeker and the Partenavia offer an attractive fire attack and spotting opportunity allowing the cost effective use of single engine aircraft where permitted and twin engine speed where required. The Seeker is best suited to slow and low patrols and is capable of providing continuous visual contact with a ground target at a patrol speed of 65 kts as a result of its extensive glazing in front of, below, above and next to, the crew.

The latest business to open in Hervey Bay is the Cold Rock Ice Creamery on the corner of Main Street and Boat Harbour Drive.

While it might look rather quiety around 9am on a Sunday morning when it’s open the queue can be out the door.

As you can see from this photo, even at 9am on a Sunday morning people are waiting for the shop to open.