But one iconic Bowral building will soon have a new purpose.

Zlatko Todorcevski, along with his wife Maruza and his brother Robert have purchased the property at 421-425 Bong Bong Street.

The settlement will likely take place by the end of the month.

Mr Todorcevski said he expected the planning stage to take another six months and hoped to start construction middle of next year.

Once completed it will be a multi-level, mixed use development.

But as to what this will mean for the community has yet to be determined.

Mr Todorcevski said several ideas had been suggested including a restaurant, spa or residential spaces.

“We do want to talk to architects and people in the community and get a sense of what people want to see here,” he said. 

“It’s been empty for so long, I think the site just warrants something nice.”

Both he and his wife retired and while they have developed residential properties before, this will be a whole new challenge for them.

The couple, who are also building a house in Bowral said they also looked at a few other properties in the area.

“Location wise it was brilliant. It feels like this part of town is also getting rejuvenated and we want to be part of that.

“We like the old building, it’s a great facade and we have no intention of knocking that down. We want to incorporate that into what we build.”

Mr Todorcevski said the development was likely to be completed towards the end of 2019.

They have yet to decide if they will run or lease the business once the development is complete.

The 300 square metre site sits at the southern entrance to Bowral and as such, the couple believes it is important to maintain the heritage feel of Bowral in the development. “Look down the streetscape and it’s all traditional. The last thing we want to do is build some brick concrete box over here. We’re not interested in that.”