Parramatta. Compulsory acquisition

Parramatta City Council will compulsorily acquire both the freehold of 14 Darcy Street, Parramatta, by agreement with the owner of the property, V.E.A.R Pty Ltd, and the ground floor leasehold of the property held by Robert and Irene Pellizzeri, for the purpose of implementing the Civic Place masterplan.

Blue Mountains. Accommodation awards

The Carrington Hotel’s The Old Bank Brasserie and Lilianfels Blue Mountains Resort and Spa were winners in the 2011 Australian Hotels Association (AHA) NSW Accommodation Awards for Excellence. The Carrington Hotel’s The Old Bank Brasserie won the award for brasserie/cafe of the year for the fifth time, earning it a place in the AHA NSW Hall of Fame. Lilianfels Blue Mountains Resort and Spa won the regional deluxe hotel accommodation of the year award, This year saw 142 finalists, 12 from regional NSW and 130 from Sydney, competing.

Blacktown. Change of name

Blacktown Olympic Park has been rebranded as the Blacktown International Sportspark Sydney. The change was made to capture the park's use as a home for both AFL team GWS Giants and the Sydney Blue Sox baseball team. After being built to host the softball finals for the Sydney Olympic Games, softball has grown to become a dominant sport at the park and a permanent base for Softball NSW.

Liverpool. $33 million refurbishment

Work is scheduled to begin soon on the $33 million refurbishment of Westfield Liverpool.. The renovations will involve a complete makeover of levels one and two of the building, including widening of the mall, new flooring, lighting and furniture.A Westfield spokeswoman said the centre would get the same finishes that have been used at Westfield Bondi Junction. The centre, which opened in 1972, has been redeveloped three times since then. The renovations are expected to be completed by December this year.

Granville. Administrators called in

Australia's largest supplier of envelopes, Australian Envelopes, which has one of its six factories in Granville, has called in the administrators. The company is a major supplier to the country's biggest mailers, including the likes of Salmat, Stream Solutions, Geon, Blue Star and Ergo Asia. Its products are used for multimillion-piece contracts such as Commonwealth Bank, Westpac, the ATO and Centrelink. The first creditors' meeting has been scheduled for 11 July."

Parramatta. leader in medical research

Parramatta City Council said the government’s $30m funding for the stage one, of the new Westmead Millennium Institute has “firmly planted Parramatta and Western Sydney, as a leader when it came to medical research,” said Lord Mayor, John Chedid. The Minister for Health and Medical Research, Jillian Skinner, turned the first sod of the proposed $135m research facility.

Penrith. Granny flats

With an ever-increasing affordability crisis limiting price growth within the Western Suburbs, property investors have turned to rental returns in order to secure higher total returns, according to a Herron Todd White report. To boost these returns, canny property owners have been investing in older (circa 1960s-1970s) three-bedroom homes on 600sqm to 700sqm of land and subsequently obtaining council approval to construct larger, purpose built ‘granny flats’ in the backyard. In Penrith and St Marys, where this trend is most prominent, the average cost of a property is around $330,000, add $70,000 for the granny flat and around $30,000 for a basic renovation of the existing dwelling and you will just scrape under the $500,000 mark once you pay the taxman.