The application, which was lodged in April this year but only advertised on the City of Ballarat planning website on Tuesday morning, envisages the construction of a $3.5 million Officeworks building at 122 Creswick Road, with a floor space of just under 3000 square-metres.

The plans describe the existing Officeworks building - situated next door to the car park - as an "adjoining building", implying the two would operate in tandem, assuming the planning application is approved by the City of Ballarat.

According to the plans, the new site would provide 115 customer car spaces in total, with 93 located at the front of the building and the balance towards the rear.

It follows confirmation from the City of Ballarat that it had quietly renewed its lease over the site in January for a period of 12 months, with that lease set to expire on 31 December.

The combination of these events accordingly raises serious questions about the future of the site, both in terms of its use as a public car park and as the site of a temporary COVID-19 testing centre.

The site was formerly home to a Shell service station and vacant for several years before being sold in September 2016 to B&J O'Shannassy Management Pty Ltd, a Bannockburn-based company owned by one Brian O'Shannassy of Russells Bridge.

That company subsequently leased the site at a cost of $200,000 per annum to the City of Ballarat, which then spent $850,000 transforming the site into a 300-space car park - some $670,000 more than the initial construction costs predicted by council.

Council attributed the project's huge cost blowout to extensive soil reparation works as well as weather-related delays.

The car park was, at the time, specifically commissioned by the City of Ballarat with a view to compensating the community for the loss of 275 car spaces that followed the construction of the much-maligned GovHub building.

To that end, the project was funded by the state government as a part of a $2 million investment to deliver an extra 1000 CBD car spaces. Because the project was initially only costed at $180,000, however, it was never released for public tender.

In April this year, Officeworks lodged a caveat over the property, citing an existing agreement between it and the current owner of the site - a Geelong-based company by the name of Jodacati Pty Ltd, which is also owned by Mr O'Shannassy.

On Monday, the City of Ballarat informed The Courier that the existing lease agreement contains an option to renew, but it remains unclear whether the City of Ballarat can exercise this option to renew without the approval of both the owner and Officeworks.

The Courier is awaiting a response from the City of Ballarat as to whether it constructed a public car park on private land without obtaining any assurances from the owner that the site would - as envisaged by council - remain a public car park in the long-term.

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