Approval for commercial building at SOP

The Minister for Planning, Frank Sartor, has approved a proposal by Bovis Lend Lease for the construction of a 7-storey commercial office building at Sydney Olympic Park. The ground floor will contain a cafe and a retail/commercial space and 369 car parking spaces over five basement levels.

The NSW Government's draft West Central Subregional Strategy, now on public exhibition, notes that Sydney Olympic Park is considered "to have excellent potential for a future business park due to its ideal location with the metropolitan area and its good access to public transport infrastructure".

Hitachi pulls out of North Ryde

Hitachi Australia is withdrawing its business from Australia which will cost 40 jobs at its headquarters at North Ryde. The decision means that its products such as flat-panel TVs, camcorders and other audio visual equipment will disappear from shelves after February. "Hitachi has decided to refocus business strategy and Australia was out of that scope," said Toshi Imamura, GM, of corporate administration.

$240 million shopping centre expansion

The AMP Capital Shopping Centre Fund and the Westfield Group has lodged a DA with Ryde City Council for the first stage of the expansion of the Macquarie Centre, at North Ryde, a $240 million upgrading that will add another 100 shops to the centre, to cater to Sydney's growing north-west corridor. AMP will manage the development.

The centre, valued at more than $700 million, sits at the heart of Macquarie Park which the NSW Government plans to become Australia's leading business park. Council plans a significant expansion of the park over the next 20 years. At present it has about 1.1 million square meres of commercial space but the planning guidelines allow for 2 million.