Some controversy occurred to opponents of the development, complaining the development was approved on rare ecological wildlands and that a large-scale shopping centre detracted from what they claimed were Noosa's village-type ideals of local community.

In its opening months, the marketing slogan used to promote the centre was "Bigger, Better, More", which some responded to negatively as a symbol of '80s-style greed, thus aggravated things considerably.

After conducting market research, the developers changed to an inclusive slogan to "Where Noosa comes to shop... naturally", which they believed was more in keeping with Noosa's Biosphere reserve status and would potentially guide more locals to the centre, representing considerable reductions in greenhouse gas emissions due to less travel by car to more remote shopping locations.

[2] Some hope Myer, Target and other tenants could support a further stage of development of the centre to serve the local community and tourists.

In 2015, Noosa Council rejected a development proposal to double the centre's size.