Commercial eye on historic Geraldton site

The council is pushing the WA Government to allow a historic Geraldton building on Marine Terrace to be used for commercial purposes, after voting to relocate Geraldton Visitor Centre. The visitor centre is presently housed in WA’s first Government railway station building, which served the Geraldton to Northampton line, but will move into Geraldton Art Gallery. On Tuesday night, City of Greater Geraldton councillors voted to approve the relocation, which Mayor Shane Van Styn hoped would attract more “foot traffic” to both facilities, which were starved of funds. He said two years ago, the WA Government cut the art gallery’s annual funding from $340,000 to $170,000. “The contract is about to expire, we are unsure of any further funding and visitor centres are becoming obsolete, people are using their phones etcetera,” Mr Van Styn said. The art gallery is in the former Town Hall. “Wouldn’t a microbrewery or restaurant be great?” Mr Van Styn said of a possible use for the current site of the visitor centre. “What would you like to see there now that the visitor centre is moving?” Mr Van Styn said the City had contributed half the cost of a $2.2 million refit of the WA Government-owned building and which was currently vested in the City for public and community purposes. The staff recommendation had been to offer the building to the Mid West Chamber of Commerce. However, Cr Steve Douglas moved an alternative motion to advertise an expression of interest for a not-for-profit community organisation for licensing the building, noting that this would require consent from the Minister for Lands. The second part of Cr Douglas’s motion was for the City to enter into further negotiations with the WA Government to change the current management order to allow commercial use. This passed 12-1 with Cr David Caudwell voting against it.