27 April 2011

Tuggeranong Town Centre

| aussiebear
Join the conversation
20

What’s going on in Tuggeranong?

So much space for rent as shops – just look at the vacancies at the Homecentre as well as both in the Shopping centre and in the area around.

Also Kmart looks like they can no longer afford stock!!

Join the conversation

20
All Comments
  • All Comments
  • Website Comments
LatestOldest

JC said :

bd84 said :

The town centre there could have been a lot better if the Government ever thought about doing some proper planning..

So what is your idea of proper planning?

I suspect it’s remembering to pick up Jolt Cola and a twelve pack of donuts on the way to the LAN party.

Typsy McStaggers11:02 am 28 Apr 11

Word on the street is, and I have no written evidence to back this up, only rumour, that Myers in Tuggers will close it’s doors at the end of it’s lease, and Big W will move in upstairs and JB Hi Fi downstairs. This doesn’t surprise me given the obvious lack of customers cruising through Myers and a huge lack of staff in there. I’ve had to physically go looking for staff in other departments to pay for items recently.

bd84 said :

KMart is generally cheap and nasty even moreso now they have their “simple layout and product range” and Target just don’t sell anything worth buying. Big W are far superior on range.

It really depends on what kind of stuff you shop for. Kmart is great for cheap basics (leggings, underwear etc) and Target has some fantastic clothes such as dresses, coats, casual clothes.

When it comes to women’s clothing, Big W isn’t even on the radar.

bd84 said :

The town centre there could have been a lot better if the Government ever thought about doing some proper planning..

So what is your idea of proper planning?

The Hyperdome has more tenants now than it did a year ago, a lot of new ones have opened in the past 6 months. Although it has lost a few to bankruptcy (A&R) and cockroaches.. The Good Guys and Myer are good for the centre, though Myer lacks some range of the bigger stores. KMart is generally cheap and nasty even moreso now they have their “simple layout and product range” and Target just don’t sell anything worth buying. Big W are far superior on range and I believe the Woolworths there is getting a new look this year (according to the sign outside it anyway).

Homeworld across the road has struggled for many years, it’s held up well enough by the Aldi, Dick Smith, Dan Murphy’s and Government Shopfront. I’m assuming they’re getting really cheap rent compared to the Hyperdome. Althought it wasn’t cheap enough for Sportsmans Warehouse, but I think they’re also struggling judging by the closure of the Belconnen store too..

The town centre there could have been a lot better if the Government ever thought about doing some proper planning..

mr reason said :

Interesting also that WBG misspells “territory” as “terratory” in said plans.

I noticed that too (hell, everybody noticed that one but no academic can explain beyond “maybe he just misspelled”), but thats his signature, and there are more Arsenal Town maps and archived information around.
Arsenal Town only made it as far as planning factories, but Dept of Public Works (I think) were concerned about combining small arms manufacturing and national command assets into one potential future military target.
So no sod ever turned.

Grunge hippy, what topic depth/time period are you looking to find out more back to, and what student age/interest level are to trying to cater for?
(Also, I seem to have hijacked a thread…)

mr reason said :

“These are his final signoff plans, but the possibility pictured died in 1918, when WWI ended and national priorities changed.”

Interesting also that WBG misspells “territory” as “terratory” in said plans.

The word ‘territory’ has a latin origin – ‘terra’ meaning land. It’s interesting to see how English evolves, perhaps once upon a time it was indeed correct as ‘terratory’.

creative_canberran7:56 pm 27 Apr 11

arescarti42 said :

creative_canberran said :

The original NCDC plans for the area were far more grand even as late as 1987 when the Hyperdome was under construction. The Lake was to be a hive of activity and the Town Centre, truly at the centre.

Apparently it was originally planned to house 180,000-220,000 people. It actually had 87,000 people living there in the 2006 census.

Back in the 70s the NCDC must have thought that Canberra was rapidly heading for a 1 million + population. If you project current population growth into the future it’ll be 60+ years before Canberra reaches the 1 million mark.

As I previously said, Tuggeranong was to extend west across the river and reach that figure. That was cancelled.

One estimate in the 60s had Canberra reaching half a million by 1990. Didn’t quite make it now did we.

“These are his final signoff plans, but the possibility pictured died in 1918, when WWI ended and national priorities changed.”

Interesting also that WBG misspells “territory” as “terratory” in said plans.

creative_canberran said :

The original NCDC plans for the area were far more grand even as late as 1987 when the Hyperdome was under construction. The Lake was to be a hive of activity and the Town Centre, truly at the centre.

Apparently it was originally planned to house 180,000-220,000 people. It actually had 87,000 people living there in the 2006 census.

Back in the 70s the NCDC must have thought that Canberra was rapidly heading for a 1 million + population. If you project current population growth into the future it’ll be 60+ years before Canberra reaches the 1 million mark.

Evil_Kitten said :

What do you call Myer, Kmart, and Target?

I’d prefer those three to DJ’s and Big W which is why I go to the Hyperdome instead of Woden.

Spot on. Now if only they could move JB HiFi down to Tuggers…

Tuggeranong has a town centre? I thought it was just a tyre around a tree. But seriously, it probably isn’t terribly viable anymore.

Skidbladnir said :

complete with a supporting community of workers, and the wonderfully descriptive name of Arsenal Town.

well its still true except they just dropped the nal

Sammy said :

a lack of decent majors (ie. DJ’s or Big W)

What do you call Myer, Kmart, and Target?

I’d prefer those three to DJ’s and Big W which is why I go to the Hyperdome instead of Woden.

grunge_hippy6:38 pm 27 Apr 11

that stuff is gold skid, I am trying to write a unit for my class about the history tuggeranong and this is very interesting. Anything else you could help with (or at least a direction to start looking) would be great!

Tuggeranong has suffered from a severe lack of attention and planning foresight since they tried to establish it. 😐

Offtopic, but if you want go back even further and see the NCDC’s original fever-dreams for the area now known as Tuggeranong, the National Library’s Archive is something of a goldmine.

Modern-day Tuggeranong was to become an industrial munitions facility (designed by Walter Burley-Griffin under the title of Industrial Town Project, Federal Terratory, Australia), complete with a supporting community of workers, and the wonderfully descriptive name of Arsenal Town.
These are his final signoff plans, but the possibility pictured died in 1918, when WWI ended and national priorities changed. 🙁

(For reference, it would be roughly at Point Hut Crossing, with the town ‘hub’ placed where the suburb of Gordon stands today)

Have a look at the “Promenade” of Tuggeranong Town park and see what leyline is created from this. The line intersects the peaks of Mt Taylor directly through to the peak of Black Mountain. When it comes to the NDC and the Griffin boffins, the placement location of anything significant in Canberra is always by design, not by accident or gross oversight. The town centre is where it is, because that’s where they wanted it due to some obscure anthroposophical or geometric significance to them.

creative_canberran5:24 pm 27 Apr 11

A little known fact about Tuggeranong Town Centre is that it is actually a huge planning defect.

The original NCDC plans for the area were far more grand even as late as 1987 when the Hyperdome was under construction. The Lake was to be a hive of activity and the Town Centre, truly at the centre.
The plans never came to fruition. The lake became a pond with no attempt to make it a hub, indeed, everything backs onto it. No cafe strips, promenades or boat hire. Just brown water and the storm water outlets from the college.

Even more significant is that it not sits on the edge of Tuggeranong, instead of being centrally located. The location of the Town Centre was chosen in the belief that the new region would extend West across the river. It didn’t and by any measure of the imagination will never given environmental considerations. That means instead of being in the middle like Woden and Belco, it is on the edge of town. It is an annex, a detour, rather than a throughput for traffic.

I avoid the Hyperdome at all costs. Vacant shops aplenty, a lack of decent majors (ie. DJ’s or Big W), the poorly-designed carpark, the worst Woolworths in the country (has it ever had an upgrade?). The recently-refurbished underground carpark supermarket (ex Mother Natures) is about the only reason to visit nowadays.

screaming banshee4:13 pm 27 Apr 11

The lease isn’t held by Nikias et al by chance? If so that would explain it, they are running the centre down so they can apply for a change of lease to build residential units.

Daily Digest

Want the best Canberra news delivered daily? Every day we package the most popular Riotact stories and send them straight to your inbox. Sign-up now for trusted local news that will never be behind a paywall.

By submitting your email address you are agreeing to Region Group's terms and conditions and privacy policy.