St Marys. Boost for the town centre

The first major step in the revitalisation of the St Marys Town Centre is the $5 million, state-of-the-art two-storey office block, in Queen Street, according to Penrith Mayor, Jim Aitken. About 90 staff from the Department of Community Services will occupy the building. The lease is for 10 years. “The building is a key development for St Marys, which will provide knock-on economic benefits for local businesses and the city,” Clr Aitken said.

Rouse Hill. Top award to shopping centre

GPT Group’s $470 million Rouse Hill Town Centre, a mixed-use development on a greenfield site of 12 hectares, in Sydney’s north-west, has been named the top property development of the year, according to the judges of the 2009 Property Council of Australia Rider Levett Bucknall Awards for Innovation and Excellence. GPT also took out the award for business and industrial parks with the Quad Business Park, at Homebush Bay.

Blacktown. Wattyl paint plant at risk

One of Australia’s leading paint groups, the Wattyl Group, which has its national office, in Norwest Business Park, told The Sydney Morning Herald the company could not continue to run all three of its paint plants, in Melbourne’s Footscray, Kilburn in northern Adelaide and the largest and ageing Blacktown plant, in Sydney’s west. The paper said the likely close of Blacktown for an estimated $40 million to $50 million was money “the company does not have and is unlikely to have for a year”.

Parramatta. Wealthy Chinese interest in city

Sydney’s eastern suburbs and the lower north shore were favourite locations for wealthy Chinese home buyers, though there was also significant interest in large homes in the Parramata area, according to Raine and Horne’s Stephen Lee, in The Sydney Morning Herald. He said interest from the Chinese mainland had picked up by about 15 per cent at the beginning of this year. Agent, John McGrath, said in his Market Review for Winter 2009, that increasing enquiry & purchases from Hong Kong & Chinese buyers.

Penrith. Autism foundation cleared

The Department of Liquor, Gaming and Racing has cleared the Luke Priddis Foundation of criminal behaviour. An investigation was conducted following newspaper reports which implied that Luke and Holly Priddis misappropriated funds. The investigation found a small number of procedural errors, the Sun Herald reported.
“The sad thing is that mud sticks,” Mr Priddis said.

Parramatta. Operators annoyed over decision

Five ferry operators, who submitted proposals to takeover the RiverCat ferry service to Parramatta, are annoyed the NSW Government has abruptly rejected their private-sector proposals, to retain the service with an extended timetable on weekdays and weekends, according to The Sunday Telegraph.

Parramatta. Arab film festival goes national

The Parramatta-based Arab Film Festival Australa, formerly the Sydney Arab Flim Festival, will be developing a national touring program later this year following the launch of its fifth season, on Thursday July 2, 2009, at the Riverside Theatres, Parramatta, with the screening of the first Jordanian feature film to be screened in Australia, Captain Abu Raeed. The national tour will take in Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Canberra. The 2008 season attracted an audience of 2200 people..