Parramatta. CBD office market report

Some 34 per cent, or 229,967 square metres, of the Parramatta CBD total office space of 682,557 square metres, is A-grade stock, according to the Knight Frank’s latest Parramatta Office Market Overview. The average gross face rent for A-grade is $419 a square metre. That for the secondary market is $353 a square metre. The A-grade vacancy rate is 2.4 per cent, 13.5 per cent for the secondary market and 9.8 per cent for the market overall. The A-grade vacancy has redcued from 35,000 square metres four years ago to less thatan 5000 square metres currently, the report said.

Region. Change in higher education at UWS

The University of Western Sydney is spearheading a radical change in Australian higher education with a landmark Doctor of Education that combines new approaches to doctoral education with a research program that rewards professional innovations backed up by research The director of the centre for educational research (CER) at UWS, Professor Christine Halse, says the Doctor of Education (EdD) targets education executives and senior educators and is designed to pioneer new approaches to education that will meet the demands of the 21st century.

Region. Crown International activity

Crown International is currently selling between 10 and 20 apartments a month in its 213 unit project at Rhodes, said the company’s CEO, Iwan Sunito. Crown is in final negotiations with John Beville, owner of the Top Ryde shopping centre for the airspace above the centre capable of holding 450 units.

Parramatta. Office development activity

Following the completion of the Sydney Water headquarters in 2009 there have been no new development starts in the Parramatta market, according to Knight Frank’s latest Parramatta Office Market Overview. The key future development sites are all actively seeking pre-commitments to trigger construction. These include 150 Phillip Street, 111 George Street, 2 Fitzwilliam Street and 60 Station Street. Following previous legal issues, Grocon is now set to commence site works on the [Parramatta City Council’s $1.6 billion] mixed-use development in early 2011, with Stage I constisting of 35,000 square metres of office accommodation, of which the major portion is pre-committed to by Parramatta Council, the report said.

Parramatta. Strong demand for office space

The depth of demand for office space in Parramatta from both corporate and government tenants is strong and this needs to be satisfied in the short-term to ensure they are not lost to other suburban markets, according to Knight Frank’s latest Parramatta Office Market Overview. With A-grade space at negligible levels [2.4 per cent] and current enquiry for prime grade space up to 15,000 square metres, the real threat to the market will be the ability to continue to attract government tenants, which represent around 40 per cent of all existing enquiry, in particular the smaller departments that can’t underpin new development, the report said.

Parramatta. Wenty Leagues sells CBD site

The Wentworthville Leagues Club has sold the 2016-square-metre former site of the Lone Star Steakhouse and Saloon, on the corner of Parkes and Anderson streets, in the Parramatta CBD, to an undisclosed buyer for $4.5 million, who will lodge an application for a mixed-use development. Wenty Leagues had planned to build a registered club on the site. The site was sold through Jones Lang LaSalle.