Macquarie Park. Link offers opportunities

The opening of the $2.3 billion Chatswood-Epping rail link enables Macquarie Park to become a much more realistic option for large corporates looking to decentralise and save money on office rental costs, said CBRE director, Simon van Grootel. The Macquarie Park/North Ryde strip is set to become the second-largest office precinct outside the Sydney CBD, according to The Australian Financial Review. The 400-hectare strip currently contains about 1.2 million square metres of office space. Macquarie University proposes to develop 620,000 square metres of commercial space. The Parramatta CBD contained 660,326 square metres of office space at January 1.

North Ryde. Doubling of office space

The challenge is to turn an agglomeration of business parks, university buildings and ageing industrial facilities, chocked by traffic congestion, in the North Ryde/Macquarie Park area, into a leading office precinct, which currently contains about 1.2 million square metres of office space, and which could more than double over the long-term, said The Australian Financial Review.

Penrith. Auction of CBD site

A 3075-square-metre site on the corner of the Henry and Evans street intersection, regarded as one of the last high-profile sites available within the CBD, will be auctioned, on March 17, along with an adjoining site of 3281 square metres. B4 zoning, with a height limit of 24-32 metres, allows for mixed-use development.

Bankstown. Business one-stop shop

Bankstown City Council is “keen” to look at ways to develop the Bankstown Business Advisory Service (BBAS), one-stop shop, as a regional initiative involving other councils. The BBAS provides business advice and support to small to medium businesses within the 25 suburban areas of the Bankstown Local Government Area. The one-stop shop gives access to information, training, networking and business development provided by state and federal government agencies.

Parramatta. 'Difficult year' ahead

The Queensland-based Wide Bay Australia Ltd, one of Australia’s larger non-bank Approved Deposit Taking institutions, which has its one NSW branch in Parramatta, said 2009 was clearly going to be a difficult year, where the focus would be on tight credit quality and containment of costs, particularly wholesale funding and with areas such as arrears. The company experienced strong growth in profit for the last six months with an after tax profit of $9.585 million – an increase of 16.5 per cent compared to the corresponding period of 2007/2008.

Region. Call for tenders

The Department of Corrective Services, which operates a number of industries in its correctional centres, has called for expressions of interest for the private sector to submit proposals to utilise the productive capacity of these facilities. The Roads and Traffic Authority is inviting tenders for the fabrication and construction of an 18 car vehicular ferry to operate on the Sackville crossing of the Hawkesbury River.

Parramatta. EOI for audit committee

Parramatta City Council is calling for expressions of interest for two independent local community representatives for its audit committee, which reviews and reports to council on financial, risk and related reporting processes. EOI close on March 18.