Any Newcrest ideas?

Perhaps you could divide it up into different sections, such as an area with residential builds, another with community lots such as a gym, library, spa, another with food and drinks such as a restaurant, bar, nightclub, lounge, cafe then another section with a park. It depends on though how you like to play the game, and which types of lots you like to have in your game.
I hope that your Newcrest challenge goes well 🙂

I turned my Newcrest into a Spellcaster neighborhood.  I don't really build, but I like to download from the gallery. I have all kinds of quirky and whimsical residences, plus a magic shop, magic library, huge museum, and themed bars, restaurants and park. It really spices up the area and makes it fun to play in.

If magic isn't your thing, some other themes could be:

~ A resort and tourist town with spas, rental homes, shops, parks, restaurants and museums.

~ 1950s retro neighborhood with a bowling alley, ice skating rink, mid-century designs, university hangouts, recreation centers, library, wedding venue and book stores.

~ An Alien town with ultra-modern/sci-fi designs, bright colors, glowing lights, and science and high tech, with flashy night clubs, a science center with robotics, and community center with eco-activities.

~ Color-coordinated themed neighborhood sections that each represent a different season and activities to match. For example,  the Summer neighborhood might be blues and yellows with a pool lot and a park with water activitieand s, while the spring area might be greens and purples with a public garden and open outdoor market.

~ If you like Occults, have each section dedicated to different Occult territories; the Vampires in one area, Werewolves in another, Spellcasters in another, as if they are having territory wars. Add a "ghost town" section of community lots with the Spooky trait and a graveyard.

~ Have neighborhood sections dedicated to different cultures, including a restaurant in each that specializes in that culture's foods. 

Good luck and have fun! 😊

Maybe turn the quietist town in the into the busiest, a street of bars, an alleyway of nightclubs, one street of rentals (think air bnb's)maybe  a restaurant area. That kinda vibe? Would be like polar opposite new rest ❤️

I find Newcrest one of the hardest worlds to develop, because it feels so general.

You could turn it into a place where everyone pretend they are wealthy, pristine and succesfull, while they are actually not. Houses are nicely decorated facing the street, but their backyards are rather filthy and worn. Community lots could be he same, a top elegant bar is facing the street, but the other  half of the lot contains a dirty, trashy and shady bar. Just make sure visitors can walk around the building, and it might be fun seeing who frequents which bar. A top notch jewellery store facing the street, while a shady garage sale is on the other part of the lot. A gourmet restaurant facing the street, and - yupp, you got the picture what might be served from the establishment facing the oposite way :) Can you come up with top notch vs low trash ideas for all sorts of lots?

I never tried this myself, but I might have to ;)

In my game Newcrest is that neighbourhood that I used to build different lots I had an idea for but no space in other worlds. Basically I built there because there were lots of empty lots, so not much thought and planning went into it as a whole. Currently I have there a shopping mall plaza with ice cream shop, cinema and arcade among it's shops, a Christmas market, a bowling bar, a cafe lot, a bakery and a clothes shop, a house lot, three pizza restaurants downloaded from the gallery, and a shopping street style lot that looks nice but is useless as far as gameplay goes, also downloaded from the gallery. In my other neighbourhoods I like to keep one of the subhoods as a community area and add community lots based on the interests of the sims living in that neighbourhood. And I also like to take into considerations different elements that are in the neighbouhood space like playgrounds, food stands and picnic areas, the skating rink, swimming lakes, and the general vibe of the neighbouhood.

I generally turn Newcrest into a rather townlike place. A city-type park, several residental rentals with townhouses and apartment buildings, a café, a nightclub, a restaurant, some shops... The long row to the side I add big luxury houses based on the shell houses on the other side of the street, so they match. 

I finished my Newcrest a long while back, though I do keep adjusting it as newer packs come out, as needed. Basically I use it for restaurants: from a simple cafe to low-end diner, and bistro mid-level bistro to high-end fine dining with experimental food. For community lots I included an upscale gym and a family friendly arts center, along with a full bowling alley and a pool. On the residential side of things, I have a four story apartment tower, along with two tiny houses. I have to admit that, even after all these years, I'm still not sure what I to use the giant lot for. Who knows, maybe I'll pick up some ideas from this thread? 😊

After we got Strangerville, I created the five lots on the right to my version of the "painted ladies" of San Francisco. I was planning on doing the whole neighborhood but lost my save when we were forced to swap over to the EA app. Currently, I'm trying to create a row of NYC brownstone apartment buildings, only 3 or 4 apartments max.

I haven't really managed to make anything of my Newcrest yet 😅

 I just always struggle with those huge lots in Llama Lagoon cause I want them to be something cool but the fact is I just don't like building/playing on such huge lots so I just can't really pick anything before I figure out way to make those functional for me 😅

as for ideas I've mostly been thinking of maybe like Chinatown, futuristic city or just using it to house my The Sims 1 / 2 / Urbz recreations but I just can't really seem to make decisions there 😅

Well, You could use the biggest lots out of the way for the very rich or horse ranches if you have that pack.  

In another area, you could put businesses  and Apartment buildings if you have those packs.  

In another area you could put a mobile home park. Another, rundown shacks.