Sovereign Place Town Centre retailers have celebrated the official opening of their unique new businesses in the heart of the Lewis Land Group’s Sovereign Hills master planned community.

From today, locals can duck in for their groceries on the way home, enjoy a boutique burger and beer with mates, meet family and friends for a speciality coffee or a glass of wine and purchase beautiful homewares and gifts from Port Macquarie’s vibrant new shopping destination.

Retailers, including the Hastings Co-op IGA, IGA Liquor, Home Timber and Hardware, Juice Box, The Hill, Brooklyn’s Burger Bar Espresso, Triple Two (Home, People, Life), took the opportunity to showcase their beautiful fitouts, products and delicious meal offering.

Your Discount Chemist will open in January 2020 followed by Southern Cross Austereo’s regional media centre in April.

They were joined by developer Lewis Land Group Chief Executive Officer Chris Calvert, the Member for Cowper Patrick Conaghan MP, the Member for Port Macquarie Leslie Williams MP and Port Macquarie-Hastings Council Mayor Peta Pinson who unveiled the Sovereign Hills Town Centre plaque in front of local business representatives and special guests.

“Today is a momentous day for Lewis Land Group and the $500million Sovereign Hills master planned community,” Mr Calvert exclaimed. “The Sovereign Place Town Centre is a key piece of infrastructure which will support our growing local residential community, the wider Hastings community and visitors, with more choice, more convenience and more dining options.

“Equally important from the Group’s perspective, was to create the heart and soul of the Sovereign Hills community. Sovereign Hills and the Sovereign Place Town Centre is consistent with our purpose of creating exceptional communities where people live, shop, relax and work. As a developer and long-term owner, we embrace the outdoors and create spaces for people to gather and appreciate the wonderful surrounds. We are extremely proud to be officially opening the Sovereign Place Town Centre today.”

Hastings Co-op Chief Executive Officer Allan Gordon said the expansion into Sovereign Hills was a natural progression into a rapidly growing area.

“Our vision for our four new stores here at Sovereign Place has been three years in the making and the end result is something we can all be proud of,” Mr Gordon exclaimed.

Mr Conaghan said he was pleased to be able to play a small role in this significant milestone.

“Sovereign Hills is a vibrant, master planned community that is attracting young families to live in Port Macquarie and investors to spend here,” he said.

“I welcome the opening of the first stage of this town centre as it provides a new platform from which to showcase our region’s great businesses and local produce.”

Commercial Project Group completed construction of the $20million 5,200sqm Sovereign Place Town Centre stage one on schedule within 12 months.

Up to 430 workers poured more than 105,000 construction hours into the project which also called for 200 tonne of structural steel, 2,733 cubic metres of concrete, 1,365 metres of locally-sourced Australian forestry certified hardwood, 6,202 recycled bricks and almost 20,000 plants and trees.

Designed by The Buchan Group, the town centre capitalises on the centre’s location midway between Port Macquarie’s coastline and hinterland to the west, inviting the outdoors in.

“The Sovereign Place Town Centre has been designed to make the most of Port Macquarie’s idyllic climate and coast-meets-country vibe, delivering an environment which is quintessentially Australian,” said LLG Head of Development Michael Long.

The centre is home to Port Macquarie’s first NRMA electric vehicle charging station and will also offer visitors free WiFi.

Today’s official opening was also a chance to thank the Rural Fire Service who put their own lives on the line to protect the Port Macquarie community earlier this month. LLG announced a $100,000 donation to be distributed between the Sancrox/Thrumster and Lake Innes Rural Fire Brigades to help provide additional fire-fighting equipment.

“We are incredibly grateful to the Rural Fire Service for keeping the community safe during the unprecedented bush fire event,” Mr Calvert said. “The RFS came to the community’s aid when it needed it and we’re honoured to be able to help them upgrade their facilities and bolster their fire-fighting capabilities in return.”

Tomorrow (Saturday 23 November) the community is invited to experience a day of grand opening celebrations, specials and tastings, and to enjoy the signature open-air retail environment LLG has become renowned for.

The celebrations will kick off at 8am on Chancellors Drive and include a TripleM live broadcast, Billabong Zoo reptile display, fire-fighting awareness display, jumping castle, free kids’ activities and more…

For more information visit www.sovereignhills.com.au.