Rydalmere. Vision for industrial estate

Parramatta City Council will fund a $20,000 market feasibility study of the Brodie Street precinct, in the Rydalmere Industrial Estate, and discuss with the University of Western Sydney the possibility of a formal partnership to establish a centre of excellence in the study of innovation and sustainability, based in the precinct. These are among the activities designed to enable the estate to be transformed into “a technology and knowledge centre for hi-tech, emerging technologies and knowledge-based business leveraging off closer relationships with UWS”.

Parramatta. :Possible closure of Church Street

Parramatta City Council will report on the closing of Church Street, between Market and Phillip streets, on Friday and Saturday nights, to reduce anti-social driving behaviour, enabling improvement of the precinct for diners and potentially increase seating capacity for restaurants. The closure could be implemented on a trial basis by December 2010.

Auburn. Minister opens $220m centre

Minister for Transport, John Robertson, opened the $220 million Auburn Maintenance Centre, which will become home to the new Waratah air-conditioned train fleet. The purpose-built centre was built by Reliance Rail to provide maintenance and servicing for the new train carriages. “The two kilometre long centre consists of seven maintenance tracks, a test siding, an automatic train wash plant and under floor wheel-profiling facility,” Mr Robertson said. The facility will employ around 150 people.

Penrith. Tourism campaign expands

Thanks to a change in Tourism NSW’s funding policy, Penrith City Council has been able was able to expand its tourism the campaign this year. “We’ve now been able to expand our target market to include Newcastle, the Central West, Wollongong, Illawarra, and the Southern Highlands. We’ve been able to include advertising in a regional travel magazine, on radio and in newspapers, supported by online advertising using Tourism NSW databases, said Mayor Kevin Crameri. The city marketing program is designed to make sure the world knows what a great place Penrith Valley is to visit, as well as to live, work and invest in, he said.

Eastern Creek. $72 million development

The Australand property Group and its joint-venture partner Hartford Lane are to develop a $72 million, 51,600-square-metre purpose-built Kmart distribution facility, on a 10.7-hectare site, on Walgrove Road, in Australand’s 46-hectare zoned Eastern Creek Business Park.

Penrith. Ninety per cent clearance rate

Colliers International’s Penrith office has had a clearance rate of more than 90 per cent. Eleven of 12 properties up for auction sold for a combined $8 million, with a five-storey office block, at 331 High Street, selling for $1.05 million over reserve. It was the most properties up for auction in Penrith since the 1990s, according to The Sydney Morning Herald.