PK Nominees lodges 38-seat Hungry Jack's drive-thru at Koko Molonglo

PK Nominees, an entity linked to Koko Molonglo developer John Krnc, has lodged development application 202645387 with the ACT Government for a 38-seat Hungry Jack’s restaurant with a drive-thru at the corner of Steve Irwin Avenue and Gornall Street in Wright. The single-storey, 279 sqm building would sit in front of the Koko precinct’s Aldi, opposite Wright Children’s Park, with queuing for up to 13 vehicles at the first pickup window. Public submissions on the application close 2 November 2026.

Why it matters

Koko Molonglo is a masterplanned precinct, and this application is a live test of how much fast-food and drive-thru retail its neighbourhood centre can absorb before residents push back. Objectors argue the application is being assessed on its own, without reference to the apartments, parking and other businesses already around it, including an existing McDonald’s and Oporto at North Weston and a KFC shopfront that opened in Koko in 2025. Resident Julie North’s submission says the assessment “does not necessarily establish that the cumulative development outcome is acceptable.”

Other submissions raise traffic at the nearby Steve Irwin Avenue roundabout, the site’s position opposite a children’s park, and anti-social behaviour and litter. Some residents support the proposal for the jobs and investment it would bring and the extra food option it would give the area, provided trading hours, traffic management and noise from the drive-thru speakers are controlled. The site has history: a 2019 proposal for a KFC drive-thru on the same strip was abandoned after community opposition, before the KFC takeaway shopfront opened there in 2025. For any Canberra developer assembling a neighbourhood centre elsewhere in the ACT, the Koko case is a marker of where that ceiling now sits.

The numbers

The application proposes 9 car spaces on site, comprising 1 accessible space, 2 for deliveries and 2 for staff, against a total parking requirement of 28 spaces. The remaining spaces would be drawn from Koko’s existing car park rather than built on the restaurant’s own site. The drive-thru is designed for queuing of up to 13 vehicles to the first pickup window and 4 vehicles to the ordering point. The application also includes signage, a loading bay, waste bins, landscaping and a rainwater tank.

The exact date the application was lodged is not confirmed; the ACT Government’s DA tracker lists the record under number 202645387, with public submissions open until 2 November 2026.

What’s next

The application is a proposal, not an approval. The ACT Government’s City and Environment Directorate will assess it against the Territory Plan once the submission period closes on 2 November 2026, weighing the objections on cumulative impact and traffic against the applicant’s case. Any approval could be contested at the ACT Civil and Administrative Tribunal. Because Koko land is held under Crown lease rather than freehold, the restaurant’s use also depends on the lease terms attached to the block, not a title transaction. Developers and agents working on other Molonglo Valley sites will be watching whether the CED’s decision tightens or loosens the bar for additional quick-service retail inside a masterplanned centre.