THE potential sale of the Ophir Car Park to make way for a third major central business district shopping centre continues to progress behind the scenes.
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A report on negotiations went before a confidential session of Orange City Council on Thursday night.
It’s understood Orange City Council has been approached by Coles or Target to be anchor tenants of a new shopping centre on the car park site.
Target has made no secret of its intentions to establish a major store in Orange after preliminary moves to build at the Old Woollen Mills were knocked on the head by council last year.
It was knocked back because planners believed that site was too far outside the central business district.
The Ophir Car Park is considered to be inside the CBD and therefore suitable for a major retail store.
“There’s very, very strong interest in the site and last night’s meeting was about working out the processes by which we can explore that opportunity,” is all Orange City Council general manager Garry Styles would say on the report on Friday.
Mr Styles would not confirm what retailer or developers had expressed interest in the site.
A spokesperson for Coles also declined to comment.
“While we’re always looking for new opportunities to expand and add value for our customers we’ve got no comment on this particular site at this stage,” the spokesperson said.
The Central Western Daily’s Great Orange Poll found recently found the department store was the number one business residents wanted to see come to the city.
Out of 703 respondents, 46 per cent said Target was the missing link in Orange’s retail options.
bevan.shields@ruralpress.com
