Rod Constantinides loves what he sees in Nambour — an old town that has “good bones” and a passionate community.  

The 28-year-old was attracted by Nambour’s country town feel in 2017 and established The Pottery Studio in Brookes Street and, with his family, set up Mammoth Storage in Zealey Road.

His next project is to transform a block of  five existing commercial buildings – several of which are vacant – on the corner of Bury and Currie streets. He wants to build a six-storey residential and commercial building.

The $50 million plans include 60 apartments and commercial tenancies on the ground floor including a childcare centre,  gym and coffee shop.

The development would upgrade the unsightly block facing Currie Street and, hopefully, help trigger more commercial activity in the CBD. 

Mr Constantinides studied architecture at Bond University and says he was drawn to the old town charm and community feel of Nambour. 

“I realized that a lot of the stuff I was  learning was prevalent in Nambour as to what a town should look like versus what we’re currently getting. And I noticed there’s good bones in Nambour. So I was interested immediately.  

“Nambour is good value compared to the rest of the Coast and I’ve seen a lot of changes over the past five years and I think there’s more to come.

“I’ve looked at all of the blocks in Nambour. But the problem with most is they’re all so old that they’ve got easements over the top of easements. 

“So in order to do anything, you need all your neighbors to be involved. When we saw this one come up, I looked at it and saw there were five properties all together where no one else can be involved. We own the whole corner. So it’s really the only opportunity to do something substantial in the way of development. 

“I think Nambour has suffered recently because many of the property owners don’t care about the buildings or the town.

“I actually do care about the direction of Nambour, because I live here and have businesses here.

“Many of the shops are empty and they’re run down. They’re old and people have owned them for a long time or they bought in the early 2000s when Nambour was a thing. And they’re just sitting on their property and they whinge about Nambour, but they don’t do anything about it.” 

Mr Constantinides said his design would reinvigorate the entrance to the main street and hoped it would encourage rejuvenation of the surrounding street scape.

“From a town planning perspective I see Nambour as the only place left that you can actually start fresh with existing foundations that already are heading in the right direction. It just needs tidying up really.

“Nambour has generous footpaths where the streets aren’t dominated by cars — apart from Currie Street. But it’s the main drag. 

“Queen Street is a good example. 

“You’ve got a generous footpath with an awning over the top and the cars don’t dominate, the people dominate the streets, which is what you want. 

“And then we have small shops everywhere. The other thing that I like is  that there’s actually a bunch of people who want to see the town do well. There’s nowhere on the coast where there are that many people trying to fix a place. So that’s a good indication of people care about it.”

Mr Constantinides said he would be speaking with Division 10 Councillor David Law in a couple weeks and his surveyors were reporting to him this week with the development costs. 

“So we’ll know, actually, whether it makes sense soon. We’ve got a long way to go but at this stage it’s looking more promising than I thought. Early indications are pretty good.”

In the meantime current buildings would be upgraded to attract tenants while any development approval process proceeds.

A Council spokesperson said once the application was received it would be assessed on its merits and a report made available to the public including an assessment and recommendations.