By the end of the year, you'll be able to drive around the former RAAF base site, take a stroll through the 10 hectares of open space or scout out your own block of land.
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After nine years of owning the land, Andorra Developments owner Mark Stanford said it was exciting to see the construction phase of the project begin.
Andorra Developments purchased the 100 acre site in 2011.
At the end of 2018 approval was granted from Dubbo Regional Council for a plan that includes more than 400 houses.
Work to turn that into a reality started this month.
The site will be zoned for tourism at the front, with an accommodation, food and drink precinct. Light industrial along the railway line and then the residential area towards the back.
Mr Stanford said stage one of the development, which includes all the civil woks, such as the road creation, stormwater and sewer would be completed by Christmas.
"After Christmas you'll be able to drive through it, it'll be publicly accessible," he said.
"It'll move pretty quickly now."
Green space
In the centre will be a huge 10.8 acre park.
"One of the things to come out of the coronavirus shutdown is people's demand for open space and parks, especially in urban areas. People are keen to get out and have a bit of a walk," Mr Stanford said.
"You'll be able to come and do the RAAF base walk. There'll be a mixture of passive and active recreation, plus there'll be some heritage interpretation."
The heritage walk will tell the story of the Aboriginal history of the area, the biodiversity and Dubbo's contribution to World War II.
As part of the conservation works, more than 100 shrubs and trees will be planted. It will also be a habitat for threatened species such as grey crowned babblers, grey headed flying fox, pine donkey orchids and the fuzzy box woodland.
Stage one
The first stage started with the clearing of trees.
Mr Stanford said the kurrajong trees were donated to Taronga Western Plains Zoo to feed the elephants, while two cocos palms and a number of large trucks were given to be used in exhibits.
"Timber was also donated to the South Dubbo Men's Shed and I look forward to seeing what wonderful creations they can make from recycled wood," he said.
At the moment igloo five is also being deconstructed.
"We're hand pulling it down in the reverse sequence it would have been constructed. You'll see that over the next few weeks," Mr Stanford said.
The vast majority of the timber - such as the brushbox, bluegum, spotted gum and blue leaf ironbark from the Goonoo State Forest - will be used throughout the site.
"Large pieces of recycled timber are hard to get, they're in demand. But they'll make feature statements in the buildings," the developer said.
The other four igloos will be kept.
In addition to the road network that has to be established within the development, Andorra was required by Dubbo Regional Council to also make changes to the nearby roads.
Traffic lights will be installed at the four lane entrance/exit to the development.
The Palmer Street intersection with Cobra Street - which Mr Stanford refers to as "a historically troublesome intersection" - will be redeveloped. The right hand turn will be removed.
Mr Stanford said they would also be putting in a roundabout into the Goode and Palmer streets intersection to fix traffic flow.
"That'll help the broader south Dubbo community and that will open up the site for business uses along the front, employment along the railway line and the residential zones along High Street," he said.
Creating jobs
Mr Stanford believes stage one of the works has created about 200 jobs.
"These types of projects are pretty important, especially during COVID times," he said.
"The first half of the year had a significant drop off in construction, especially residential, and now that the business cycle is a little more predictable that there's going to be disruption long term, these sorts of projects allow the construction community to come back in."
Dubbo mayor Ben Shields said the development was creating a "economic lifeline" for Dubbo during a time of hardship.
"No other regional city has this sort of development that's going to boom and prosper in the coming times," he said.
"They're preserving Dubbo's history while at the same time giving us an economic boost with that development. I'm absolutely thrilled by the outcome."
Cr Shields said the other great thing about the development was that the developers and owners were local. He said it meant the money generated from the development would stay in the town.
There are more than 60 companies involved with the stage one works. Mr Stanford said they tried to use local people where possible, but there were also professionals out of Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne.
"These sort of construction works are important, especially in regional areas," he said.
"That's why you keep seeing the state government and the federal government put economic stimulus into construction.
"While the approval process was a long time coming, the benefits are timely during the COVID slowdown, a project like this can finally get started."
It's fitting when the construction of the RAAF base in 1940 bought hundreds of jobs.
"It bought 900 full time jobs to a town of only 3000 people. It was a great boost that really made Dubbo city. That type of contribution is really quite significant," Mr Stanford said.
Now, he said it was ready for "adaptive reuse and future opportunity".
"You don't get many sites of 100 acres in the middle of town. This is an opportunity to bring housing and employment back to the centre of the city," Mr Stanford said.
"Dubbo is kind of struggling a little bit, it's geographically bounded by the river, the railway line and the floodplains, so 100 acres in the middle is the next best opportunity for the city to grow.
Commercial interest
As for what businesses will move into the site, Mr Stanford has been tight lipped.
"There's quite a lot. But I'll let them make their own announcements," he said.
Cr Shields said he had heard about some "fantastic developments" through the grapevine.