A live music venue that began as a custom guitar workshop is seeking to add a brewery and the sale of food and beverages to its offerings.
An application has been submitted to Sunshine Coast Council to establish medium-impact industry and a hotel at the Norton Music Factory at 13 Bronwyn Street, Caloundra West.
A report prepared by Plan A Town Planning on behalf of applicant Liam Norton says the hotel land use is proposed to support the brewery and guitar workshop via the sale of food and beverages produced on and off site.
“The development seeks approval for the production of beverages and guitars for the purpose of wholesale,” it says.
“The hotel land use will support the sale of both products by providing the opportunity for customers to visit the site and consume the beverages and enjoy live entertainment displaying the guitars.”
The 1116sqm site is in the Medium Impact Industry Zone and its current land use is Indoor Sport and Recreation. It has an approval for a gym and complementary services such as a spa and sauna.
“The immediate area surrounding the site has largely been developed for the purposes of industrial uses, with residential development on the outskirts of the industrial area,” the report says.
The application acknowledges the proposed hotel land use is not consistent with its current zoning, and would be subject to impact assessment, but says it would operate in a manner that is compatible with the brewery and guitar workshop.
“The proposed medium-impact industry uses are consistent with the Medium Impact Industry Zone, while the proposed hotel use greatly complements the operations of the industrial use,” it says.
The report notes the hotel component would not involve accommodation and that no alterations to the building are proposed, with the exception of a new roof over the existing car park.
It says only seven on-site car parking spaces would be provided, less than the required 12 spaces, but argues there is ample street parking on Bronwyn Street.
“Given the hotel land use is proposed to be operated primarily after 5pm throughout the week, there will be high availability of on-street car parking to facilitate visitors of the hotel,” it says.
“It is also anticipated that many patrons of the hotel will likely arrive and leave the site via car-share services such as Uber or taxi.”
The application includes letters of support from the Sunshine Coast Music Industry Collective, QMusic and the Caloundra Chamber of Commerce.
It also cites studies from the University of the Sunshine Coast that identify a correlation between the decline of live music venues and worsening economic performance on the Sunshine Coast.
“The proposed hotel use will suitably contribute to improving the provision of entertainment for citizens of the Sunshine Coast and, furthermore, will facilitate economic growth for the night-time economy when combined with the proposed brewery and guitar workshop land uses,” it says.
Do you have an opinion to share? Submit a Letter to the Editor at Sunshine Coast News via news@sunshinecoastnews.com.au. You must include your name and suburb.
The Norton Music Factory website says it started in 2012 as a custom guitar workshop.
“As time went on things have changed in a big, big way,” it says.
“After throwing a few private parties and shooting a film clip for local Sunny Coast band Von Hazeler, the people started demanding more shows. All of a sudden, local bands contacted us wanting to play here and the general public kept asking us when the next show was.
“We never planned on becoming a music venue, it just kind of happened by accident.”
The aerial imagery in this story is from Australian location intelligence company Nearmap. The company provides government organisations, architectural, construction and engineering firms, and other companies, with easy, instant access to high-resolution aerial imagery, city-scale 3D content, artificial intelligence data sets, and geospatial tools to assist with urban planning, monitoring and development projects in Australia, New Zealand and North America.
