Plans could reopen Mount Stromlo Café and Visitor Centre after years of closure

But more than five years since it closed for renovations, the Mount Stromlo Café and Visitor Centre remains vacant.

A spokesperson for the Australian National University, which owns the building, said the institution was currently looking into future options for the visitor centre and cafe, with plans to reopen it.

However, the university didn't provide a timeline.

Five years ago, it announced in a Facebook post that the cafe and visitor's centre would be closed for internal works and renovations from January 28, 2019, with the intention of reopening that autumn "or earlier based on our works program".

The Canberra Times understands the facility has not resumed operations since. In a statement, a spokesperson said renovations were "ongoing as the site is heritage listed".

"All work at the site needs to take this into account and the University is ensuring this," they said.

"We also note that COVID disrupted potential commercial opportunities for spaces across the ANU campuses, including Mount Stromlo.

"We look forward to sharing updates with our wider community when appropriate."

This isn't the first time the visitor centre and cafe had shut its doors.

In 2016, its reopening was hailed an occasion marking the completion of renewal of the Mount Stromlo site, which had been destroyed by the 2003 bushfires.

In 2014, The Canberra Times reported that the university was in dispute with the then-operator, including over bad reviews and rent.

For visitors to the area, it's a missing piece.

Belconnen residents Jayden Daley and Emelia Simpson were biking through Mount Stromlo's trails on Friday and said they would welcome the reopening of the cafe.

"This is probably the point where most people start to run out of refreshments or food and it'd be great to have something to get up here for and have a break and food fresh food or coffee and then be able to finish the ride," he said.

"A lot of parents probably would use it a lot because they're generally shuttling up and down the mountain with their kids."

Ms Simpson said a working cafe would motivate people to get up the hill.

"It's a good goal to go up. We get to the top of the hill, we stop for half an hour for a coffee ... it'll be that nice sort of goal, to get a bit of a reward before you start going down."

A spokesperson for ANU said in the meantime, they encouraged visitors to Mount Stromlo to "take advantage of the great cafes and restaurants in the Molonglo Valley area, or at the University's Acton campus".

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