Construction is underway on Richmond’s former SBL bus depot to create a mix of large retail sites, food and beverage, plus a drive-through outlet.
The news comes on the back of Richmond Mall owners, Tinline Properties, announcing a massive upgrade of the mall over the next 14 months. Together the developments represent a huge investment into Richmond.
Owner-developer of the former SBL site, Henri Yeoman, says the development of the high-profile site on the corner of State Highway 6 and McGlashen Ave is expected to be open for business by the end of next year.
The development will house two large-format retail spaces, three food and beverage spaces, and a drive-through food outlet. Henri says the development has been largely planned around the needs of tenants lined up for the larger retail spaces.
“It’s a very prominent location with quite big exposure and it’s also got three street frontages, so for a commercial development of this type, with these tenants, it’s quite a logical outcome for a site like that.”
It is Henri’s first project in the area, but he says the company, Blackcomb Property Group, has worked with some of the tenants on other projects and knew they wanted to be in the area.
“When the site became available and we had those conversations, it was very apparent what we were looking at doing, had tenant demand. We could see what we had in our heads, sitting on that site. We had about six different schemes done and worked through them and what ended up happening was largely dictated by the tenants we were working with at the time and what they wanted. The tenants are always the catalyst for the project; they are the driving force and dictate how the development looks.”
Three of the tenancies are already signed up, with three more to fill. He says the company is in discussion with potential tenants for the remaining spaces and is confident they will be filled. A marketing campaign will also get underway to seek tenants.
Access for the complex will be from McGlashen Ave and Doran St, with no right turn for traffic exiting onto McGlashen Ave.
Meanwhile, a revamp of the former Raeward Fresh site on Champion Rd is due to be completed in early 2026. Bayleys’ marketing agent Gill Ireland says negotiations are taking place with tenants for the redevelopment which will have offices upstairs and commercial downstairs.
More construction has been underway beside the Richmond lights in the premises that housed The Big Sip. It being divided into two spaces, with one space tagged for retail or office and the other for food and beverage. That build is expected to be completed by December.
