Shoalhaven Mayor Joanna Gash announced on Friday that council’s tender for the Owen Street block had been accepted by Club Jervis Bay.

Cr Gash said the exchange would be official once the deposit was made next week but said she could not reveal the purchase amount until then.

“This is very positive news for the City of Shoalhaven,” she said.

“We are now the proud owners of the block of land in Huskisson.

“I want to say congratulations first of all to the community at Huskisson for the hard work they have put in. It’s paid off.”

Cr Gash said the money raised by the community would not go towards the purchase of the land.

“This is totally outside of the amount the community has raised,” she said.

“We look forward to receiving their funds, of course, to further the development of that block of land.

“I need to emphasise I’ve always been up front. It is a commercial block and there will be some form of commercial development on that block.”

Cr Gash said council would look to develop something to benefit the entire community.

“We have to consult with the community in relation to the development to this block and councillors themselves will have to decide what they want to do,” she said.

“We can’t say exactly what’s going to happen there, but certainly something will happen.

“This is a focal point for our national and international visitors. It’s the whale watching area, it’s the boat launching area and of course the state government has given us a further million dollars for the expansion of the wharf, so all those things come into play.”

Cr Gash said she would like to see a master plan over for the site to fully understand the possibilities and limitations of development for the land.

Save the Heart of Huskisson spokesperson Kate Broadhurst welcomed the news.

“We are all completely thrilled at the news that Council's tender was successful.

"I am pinching myself all over because I can't believe this is really true. I still haven't seen it in writing, in black and white from the Council, so I still can't quite believe it. 

"Heart of Huskisson has been an enormous community effort. So many people from the area - Jervis Bay and the wider Shoalhaven, as well as further afield, put in huge amounts of expertise, time, energy and passion to make this happen. 

“We could not be happier with this result and we look forward to working closely with council through the next stage of the process,” she said.