QUEANBEYAN City Council's Monaro Street makeover is starting to take shape as work begins on the seven businesses earmarked for improvements.
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The Ken Oliphant-designed building on the corner of Monaro and Crawford Street is one of the businesses to undergo transformation.
The previously beige and blue art deco building has been re-painted a bottle green colour with smaller sections of blue and beige.
The renovations were funded by a joint initiative between Queanbeyan City Council and the property owners.
The Council offered elected businesses $10,000 per building to improve their facades. This was to be matched on an equal basis.
Ken Oliphant building part owner Soorage Ahadizah said the timing couldn't have been better it had been eight or nine years since the exterior was last painted.
Mr Ahadizah said he was happy to work with the Council after they helped to get the building's clock up and running again.
"The transformation of the building has been amazing. It's really uplifting and positive and taking Queanbeyan to a higher level," Mr Ahadizah said.
"It's made a huge difference and hopefully people consider the building to be more attractive and notice it more."
Queanbeyan Mayor Tim Overall said he's felt a renewed sense of pride as the town enters a new and more attractive chapter.
Cr Overall said for some years the CBD had been "left to languish" and now was the time to concentrate on updating it.
"It's very important with our residential growth - with Googong, Tralee and in-fill growth of town houses and units - that we improve our CBD to make it a more attractive, vibrant city centre to keep pace," he said.
The seven buildings selected for stage one were chosen on the basis that improvements to them would make a difference to that section of Monaro Street.
Other buildings nominated for refurbishment include the Cassidy's Arcade frontage, National Australia Bank branch, the Dudley Building and Moore's Building.
Stage one of the Monaro Street refurbishment also included repainting the median strip planter boxes, installing new plants and new bollards in the town centre.
"This is just the beginning. This program will be extended to 2014/15 with the support of the elected council to identify further buildings for similar treatments," Cr Overall said.
The Monaro Street refurbishment is just the latest in the Council's plan to overhaul the city centre. Concept plans for more changes to the CBD and CBD river frontage will go to Council next month. The plans are expected to placed on public exhibition for community consultation in April.
