Property Advert of the Week: Bovis Display Homes Ad (1984)

Below is a newspaper advertisement from 1984 by Bovis, to promote the sale of the Huntsgreen. It could be built from $33 550, There was an.offer of a $3000 discount for the first 20 buyers that visited a Bovis Display Village.

Source: Bovis. 1984. "Cheep, cheep, cheaper" (Advertisement). The Daily Telegraph, May 5: 35. 

Property Advert of the Week: Huxley Homes (1984)

Below is a newspaper advertisement from 1984 by Huxley Homes. Five model homes were on display, which could be built on one's own block of land or combined with a house and land package. The display village was located on Epson Road, Chipping Norton.

 

Source: Huxley Homes. 1984. Untitled (Advertisement). The Daily Telegraph,  May 12: 10.

Property Advert of the Week: Forge Real Estate (1984)

Below is a newspaper advertisement from 1984 from Forge Real Estate. In addition to helping homebuyers obtain a home without a deposit, they provided support with financing and access to government grants. The main office was at Baulkham Hills, but Home Advice Centres were located in St Clair and Oxley Park.

Source: Forge Real Estate. 1984. "New Home Buyers...No Deposit". The Daily Telegraph, January 14: 27. 

East Circular Quay Redevelopment (Series): Opera Garden Centre Scheme (1984)

Last week, I commenced our new series focusing on the redevelopment of East Circular Quay and focused on the first proposal to build a unit block at 35-37 Macquarie Street. There was little to be found on why it didn't proceed other than a reference in a 1982 newspaper article in The Sydney Morning Herald mentioning that it had been demolished and was under construction. 

In 1984, Lend Lease unveiled their plan to redevelop the entire block for $700 million. Lend Lease were tenants in one of the buildings and therefore had a connection the site.

Source: O'Hara, J. 1984. "The bold $700 million plan to rescue the heart of Sydney". The Sun Herald, September 16: 4-5. 

It was an ambitious but simple plan. Two office blocks between thirty and forty levels would be built at the Cahill Expressway end. The rest of the block would contain two levels of shops and restaurants. Above it would be an extension of the Royal Botanic Gardens, which would cross over Macquarie Street. A carpark would also be built for patrons visiting the Sydney Opera House.

However, there were challenges facing Lend Lease that could have killed the scheme quickly involving two sites within the block

1. 35-37 Macquarie Street

This article also references 35-37 Macquarie Street being "under construction".

2. Unilever House

Molena Holdings purchased Unilever House for $22.8 million in December 1983.

Our series continues next week. 

Other entries in this series 

East Circular Quay Redevelopment (Series): The first apartment block proposal (1979)

1984: The Conservation of the Plaza Theatre

 

Source: Anon. 1984. "Plaza's face saved". The Sydney Morning Herald, February 2: 16.

For nearly forty years, the the McDonalds Plaza restaurant (as it is known) has been located in the former Plaza Theatre in George Street, directly opposite Event Cinemas. McDonalds bought the building from the Hoyts Theatre organisation in 1981 and spent $2 million dollars converting the former theatre into a retail and commercial office building. The restored building was officially opened by NSW Premier Neville Wran in February 1984. The McDonalds restaurant opened in December 1983 and has traded there to this day. 

The building was also home to Planet Hollywood between 1996 and 2002 when finacial difficulties bought on its closure. The blue globe remains atop the building two decades later.

NEVER BUILT SYDNEY: Early Scheme for 2 Market Street (1984)

Welcome to Part four of our series of "Never Builts" in Sydney. In 1984, Sydney City Council approved a commercial development for a seven level carpark (2 levels below ground, five above ground) and eight levels of commercial space at 2 Market Street. The proposed tower occupies the site of the current Allianz Centre, completed in 1991. 

Allianz Tower comprises of 21 levels, but the early scheme only comprised of 13 levels. The offices were originally intended to be terraced. 

Architects were James Thiessen & Associates. 

Source: Anon. 1984. "$14m plan combines offices and parking". The Sydney Morning Herald, April 19: 20. 

This is a "never built" that did not deserve to be built. If built, the building would have aged quickly. The eventual building that rose on the site was designed by Crone Partners. The carpark is not as visible from the street even for the above ground levels and offers 40 000sq/m of office space. Major tenants include Allianz and Ampol. 

1984: A real Big Dipper for Luna Park

From the opening of Luna Park in 1935 until 1981, the original Big Dipper was a draw card for the hordes that descended on Luna Park at Milsons Point. It's removed was associated with the rebuilding of Luna Park following the Ghost Train fire in June 1979 that killed six people

In 1984, there was a proposal for new and larger Big Dipper but residents of Lavender Bay & McMahons Point objected, citing noise concerns.

Source: Coultan, M. 1984. "Bumpy ride ahead for Luna Park's roller-coaster". The Sydney Morning Herald, August 8:1. 

The roller coaster did not eventuate while the park closed for a second time in 1988. A new Big Dipper appeared in 1995 when the park was reopened and lasted until its closure in 1996. This was smaller than the 1984 vision. 

EVOLUTION OF WESTFIELD MIRANDA: Westfield Miranda extensions (1984-1985)

The success of Westfield Miranda during the 1970's and increasing population growth across the Sutherland Shire led to Westfield deciding to embark on another expansion.

Farmers would be rebranded as Myer in 1976

In 1982, plans for extensions were rejected by Sutherland Council. The scheme proposed expansion over the railway line and into Karimbla Road.

During the same year, Myer purchased Grace Bros. In early 1983, Myer made the decision to withdraw from NSW citing poor sales and focus on growing the Grace Bros brand across the state.

Source: Anon. 1983. "New jobs for Miranda staff". The St George and Sutherland Shire Leader, February 16: 3.

The majority of Myer stores were converted to Grace Bros. Some stores were closed altogether e.g. Gordon.

As Grace Bros was already a tenant in Westfield Miranda, it was decided that Myer would vacate the space.

This allowed Westfield to subdivide the space once occupied by the store. You will notice that some of that layout still remains, even after redevelopment and upgrades in 2014.

Source: Anon. 1983. "Myer Miranda Fair to be redeveloped". The St George and Sutherland Shire Leader, May 11: 38.

In mid 1983, Harvey Norman moved into what was the top floor of Farmers/Myer and would remain there for a decade before moving to Caringbah.

The extensions and upgrades were completed in three stages - April 1984, August 1984 and March 1985.

Upon completion, Big W had moved in. Woolworths moved from level 2 to level 3. Best and Less and Franklins opened stores. Parking facilities were also expanded to extend over Wandella Road onto land behind Miranda Public School. The expansion of the carpark caused controversy.

The number of shops had doubled again - 160 retailers under the one roof.

One departure was the Miranda branch of Sutherland Library, moving to its current site in Wandella Road.

Below are some scans from The St George and Sutherland Shire Leader from 1984 and 1985 to promote the upgrades and selected advertisements.

April 1984 - Stage 1

August 1984 - Stage 2

March 1985 - Stage 3

1984: Introduction of Saturday afternoon retail trading

Older readers would recall well the days when shops were required to shut at noon on a Saturday and in shops and shopping centres across the city, the battle was on to get the shopping done in the morning.

I would love those readers to share their stories of those battles.

By the 1980s, retailers had found loopholes in trading law that had allowed them to trade seven days a week provided that they were a "small" business. However, if a major retailer sold identical goods on a Sunday, they could be fined. Shoppers wanted more time to shop as well.

Electrical and furniture stores like Harvey Norman, Joyce Mayne, and Norman Ross were trading on Saturday afternoons and Sundays, yet were not subject to prosecution under state law.  If Grace Bros, Waltons or David Jones opened during those hours, they would be prosecuted.

This was used by the unions to oppose further extensions to trading hours.

In 1983, the State Government passed legislation to allow all retailers to trade on a Saturday afternoon along with a second evening of late night trading during the week. It was proposed to be implemented from February 1984, but it was not until August that retailers were allowed to trade on Saturday afternoons.

The winners from extended trading hours were:

• Shoppers - No need to rush on a Saturday to complete their shopping. They could take their time to purchase, but also have more options.
• Major retailers - Opportunities to earn more income, even if it meant that the costs of operating stores were higher.

The losers were:

• Retail workers - Unions argued that workers would lose time to spend with their families and even threaten full-time jobs. From an employment perspective, however, there would be scope for more jobs to be created. Longer hours would increase the demand for labour.
• Small businesses - With fewer employees, small businesses like corner shops could trade on Saturday afternoons and Sundays without competition from big retailers.

The Sydney Morning Herald wrote a feature following the first weekend of Saturday afternoon trading in August 1984, and for small businesses, it wasn't a good day. Shoppers seemed happy though.

Source: Hill, R. 1984. "Big stores happy, but not the small shops". The Sydney Morning Herald, August 13: 3. 

However, one exception was David Jones, who decided to introduce Saturday afternoon trading from the following Saturday (August 18).

With retailers allowed to trade all day Saturday, the push would soon be on for trading on Sundays.

Property Advert of the Week: Hooker Homes Pre-Christmas Sale (1984)

As we start to enter the Christmas season, I managed to find a 1984 newspaper advertisement by Hooker Homes where homes were on sale at selected locations for under $53 000.

Source: Hooker Homes. 1984. "Pre-Christmas Sellout" (Advertisement). The Daily Telegraph, December 1:35.