The vacant former Woodford post office shop will have a new lease on life, with PRD Nationwide’s commercial retail specialist Brenden Purcell confirming a tenant has been secured.
Mr Purcell told the Gazette last week the 60 square metre site facing the reopened eastbound highway lanes has been leased to a Blue Mountains resident who works in the real estate business.
“The site will be used for a local real estate business,” Mr Purcell said.
“More details will be available next month — at this stage the business name will be decided in the next two weeks and it will open in about six to eight weeks.”
The securing of the lease came at an important time in the context of Woodford’s retailing future.
The town’s central business area is currently zoned for “low impact residential” with small businesses able to continue using existing rights for retail purposes as long as they have not been vacant for 12 months.
The former Woodford post office shop had been vacant for almost 11 months before the new lease for a real estate shop was secured.
The town centre’s land use zoning remains for “low impact residential” in Draft Local Environment Plan 2013.
A petition signed by more than 100 people was submitted to council in February, requesting the land use zoning be changed to “B1 Neighbourhood Centre” in the final version of the Plan.
