New plans needed for Giralang Shops in bid to secure supermarket

"Giralang Property Group remains fully committed to delivering this development for the community and we actively continue to seek the anchor supermarket that is essential for the viability of the project," a new letter from Giralang Property Pty Ltd to residents says.

Planning Minister Mick Gentleman signed off on a change to planning laws earlier this month that will allow the size of supermarkets on CZ4 land to be 1500 square metres.

The move reverses a 2015 decision to limit some suburban supermarkets to 1000 square metres, a shift that has been widely blamed for stalling the Giralang Shops redevelopment.

A major supermarket pulled out of negotiations, which meant the project was no longer viable. The suburbs have been without shops since 2005.

The latest letter to residents said the process to increase the size of the supermarket at Giralang would need to start from scratch, including new rounds of community consultation and planning approvals.

"This will also be subject to objections from competitors in nearby shopping centres. History tells us this would not be a quick process," the letter said.

Dimitri Nikias, whose family has owned the shops site since the 1970s, said a letter would be delivered to all Giralang households this week with an update to the project.

"We have listened to the community and coupled with accepting that it is obviously not going to be a quick process, we will be making some changes including upgrading fencing and tidying the site to address the community's concerns about safety and visual amenity," Mr Nikias said.

"We have welcomed the community's feedback through the course of the ACT Assembly inquiry and as a direct result of some of those submissions we are calling for ideas from the community about how they would like the site to be utilised in the interim, until development can commence."

Mr Nikias is due to appear before an ACT Legislative Assembly committee into the Giralang Shops development on Thursday. The planning, transport and city services standing committee's inquiry was prompted by a public petition.

ACT Planning Minister Mick Gentleman in August 2018 used call-in powers to approve a development application for a mixed-use precinct at the Giralang shops site, including a 1000-square-metre supermarket and 50 apartments.

But Mr Nikias wrote to residents in April 2020 to say the project had stalled after a supermarket anchor tenant had not been secured.

Then planning minister Simon Corbell used call-in powers in 2011 to approve an earlier proposal for a 1500-square-metre Woolworths supermarket, retail outlets, cafe, restaurant and car parks, but the plans were never completed.

That decision prompted a bitter stoush between other local supermarket operators who launched legal action over what they saw as over development of the Giralang site.

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