Property Advert of the Week: Empress Gardens, Hurstville (1999)

Below is a 1998 newspaper advertisement promoting the sale of apartments in the Empress Towers at Hurstville. One bedroom apartments were available from $175 000, "2.5" and three bedroom apartments from $280 000 and Penthouse duplex apartments from $380 000. 

Source:  Delta International. 1999. "You belong in Empress Towers" (Advertisement). The Sydney Morning Herald, June 5, 30RE (Real Estate Liftout). 

1973: Weather Beacons atop Sydney buildings

Some will be aware that buildings in Sydney can and have acted as locations to monitor weather conditions. 

In 1957, the MLC Building in North Sydney became the first building in Sydney to have a weather beacon installed on its rooftop.

Sixteen years later (1973), The St George Permanent Building Society in Hurstville became the second location in Sydney to have a weather beacon installed. Light colours and changes could give locals the latest weather conditions.

Below are two clippings from The St George and Sutherland Shire Leader from its unveiling in 1973.

Source: Anon. 1973. "News beacon has a flash", The St George and Sutherland Shire Leader, March 14:1.

Source: Anon. 1973. "Minister hit the right button". The St George and Sutherland Shire Leader, March 21: 11.

I believe that the weather beacon has since been removed; the date of which is unknown. 

Westpac Place in Kent Street has a weather beacon atop the building, but it uses electronic lighting placed in bars to tell Sydneysiders the current air pressure reading.  

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Property Advert of the Week: MacMahon Plaza, Hurstville (1998)

Below is a 1998 newspaper advertisement for the MacMahon Plaza complex in Hurstville.



Source: Colliers Jardine. 1995. "MacMahon Plaza" (Advertisement). The Sydney Morning Herald, June 11: 33RE (Real Estate Liftout).

Property Advert of the Week: Park Plaza, Hurstville by Meriton (1995)

Below is a 1995 advertisement by Meriton Apartments promoting apartments in the Park Plaza Complex in Hurstville.

Source: Meriton Premier Apartments. 1995. "Park Plaza" (Advertisement). The Sydney Morning Herald, April 8: 101. 

NEVER BUILT SYDNEY: Hurstville's Twin Office Tower scheme (1987)

At the former ATO Office Building site in Hurstville, two residential towers are currently under construction - one is 18 levels tall and the other 14 levels.

The ATO Office Building was seven levels tall and completed in 1994. Demolition occurred in 2017.

Below is an article as published in the January 13, 1987 edition of The St George and Sutherland Shire Leader. This involved a twin tower scheme for a 10 level tower and an 11 level tower. Like the current residential development, there were objections e.g. traffic and overshadowing.

Had this scheme go ahead, I think attracting tenants may have been a challenge. The ATO building while shorter had larger floorplates that would appeal to larger firms. As for redevelopment, the towers would have been gutted and converted into residential, though I would not be surprised if they were demolished and replaced, like what has been done in regional centres like Epping.

NEVER BUILT SYDNEY: Early concept for the expansion of Westfield Hurstville (1986)

Just eight years after opening in 1978, Westfield were already planning for an expansion of its shopping centre at Hurstville.

An early concept plan would see the centre cross over Park Road; in effect turning the street into a tunnel and would not reach The Avenue as the centre eventually did.

Note that there was no plans for a cinema but were intent on a major department store (secured Grace Bros) and discount department store (secured Kmart).

Snowy Hill Park was to be retained, but was eventually replaced with parking.

Source: Gladstone, C. 1986. "Massive bonus for shoppers: Giant centre doubling area". The St George and Sutherland Shire Leader, March 4: 1. 

NEVER BUILT SYDNEY: Hurstville Super Centre (1965)

Hurstville Central is the shopping centre located right above Hurstville Railway Station. It is a busy commuter shopping centre that was once known as the Hurstville Super Centre.

It is currently a one level shopping centre, containing a Coles Supermarket and food retailers to cater for commuters using the railway station and transport interchange. There is a rooftop carpark above with medical centre

The Centre has traded since 1965 and was seen as essential to reviving Hurstville's retailing precinct, which was being threatened by the opening of shopping complexes at Miranda (Miranda Fair) and Roselands.

Source: Super Centre Development Corporation Limited. 1961. "Hurstville Super Centre Limited" (Advertisement). The St George and Sutherland Shire Leader, April 26: 10. 

Original plans from the early 1960s called for much more believe it or not. This included:

• Extra parking
• "Prestige" shopping level above the existing shopping centre.
• Offices
• Apartments (Approximately six levels)

At the time of the opening of stage one in 1965, customers were promised a lot more in the future than the fifty shops and rooftop carpark that they were getting. 

Source: Anon. 1965. "This is It! The Start of a new era in shopping convenience" (Advertisement). The St George and Sutherland Shire Leader: 30 & 31.

Even in 1970, there will still hope it would proceed as per original plans:

  

Source: Anon. 1970. "Scheme Still Alive". The St George and Sutherland Shire Leader, May 27: 7.

The development was never built further than stage one. In the 1970s, Westfield was built nearby including the arcade that links it with Forest Road. By the 1990s the centre went into a gradual decline. Even Franklins (which had replaced Coles) disappeared. By the mid-2000s the centre was desolate with large areas vacant and the structure itself in a bad state. Proposals were changed yet never saw the light of day. I took these photos in 2006 which show its bad condition.

A change of ownership a decade ago saw a major interior upgrade of the cent. As part of the process, it was rebranded as Hurstville Central. Coles returned and the centre itself is doing quite well with most spaces occupied. Below are several photos of the current centre from 2008.

What if?

You might be asking yourselves the What If? question. This is what I think might have happened had the development proceeded.

• More flexible highrise development in Hurstville's CBD on both the Kogarah Council and Hurstville Council sides. The presence of the highrise unit blocks would have given the incentive to build. While Hurstville contains its fair share of highrises today, maybe we might have seen a few more. 
• The Super Centre would probably have declined in status as time went along. Space to expand would have been limited i.e -built to Ormonde Parade with limited room for expansion into Forest Road.
• Struggled to get tenants for it's "prestige" shopping floor. Hurstville is traditionally seen as a working-class suburb and getting some high-end boutiques into Hurstville might have been tough.

Property Advert of the Week: Forest Ridge, Hurstville (2001)

I actually remember when Forest Ridge at Hurstville went up in 2001. From memory, the site was once part of Dominelli Ford, which was directly across from the main dealership, before being demolished several years ago. Here is an advertisement promoting sales of apartments in the building from 2001. Sadly its now lost in the concrete jungle which has grown in spurts over the past two decades near to King Georges Road.

  

Source: Colliers Jardine. 2001. "Forest Ridge Apartments"(Advertisement). The St George and Sutherland Shire Leader, March 20:107.

1990: Grace Bros opens at Hurstville

This week, Myer will close the doors of their store at Westfield Hurstville, ending almost 25 years of service by Myer-Grace Bros to the people of Hurstville and the St George District. Before 1990, St George residents had to travel to either Roselands, Miranda Fair or the city if they wanted to shop at Grace Bros.

In the 1980's Grace Bros were keen to open a store in the St George area. Southside Plaza at Rockdale (redeveloped into Rockdale Plaza) was touted as a possible site with the centre keen to expand.

Meanwhile, David Jones had their eyes on Hurstville with a possible site floated on a new shopping centre on Queens Road near the current site of Hurstville Library. That never eventuated.

Westfield was keen to expand their Hurstville centre which had opened in 1978 with 120 shops anchored by Waltons, Coles & Nock & Kirbys. Under the expansion, the number of retailers would double to about 240, the current number of retailers trading today.

Grace Bros ended up going to Hurstville to join the expanded centre, along with fellow Coles-Myer discount department store - Kmart. The expansion was approved by Hurstville Council in late 1987.

Source: Westfield Group. 1990. "Westfield Shoppingtown Hurstville" (Advertisement). The St George and Sutherland Shire Leader, April 5: 17. 

On April 10, 1990, the store was officially opened to shoppers with hundreds of locals queuing up to snap up a bargain. Grace Bros Ambassador Deborah Hutton was on hand to oversee proceedings. It took one hour for the store to rake $51 000 in sales. Apparently, one shopper reportedly bought a bed within minutes of the store opening.

Source: Anonymous. 1990. "Crowds surge to buy at new GBs." The St George and Sutherland Shire Leader, April 12: 3. 

Growing up in the 1990s, Grace Bros was the department store that I was taken to for shopping. One family custom was to get our school shoes there. I remember that Grace Bros had it all, even though it was nowhere near the size of stores in the city or elsewhere.

But in the past few years, it just had gone downhill. My comments to a recent article in The St George and Sutherland Shire Leader, would sum up where it is now. It did end up being published in the St George print edition of the same paper. I didn't get to see it in print as my local (Sutherland Shire) edition did not publish it.

What does it mean for Hurstville? I'm concerned about its status as a shopping centre. Department Stores may not be the anchor for a shopping centre as they used to be, but they carry  a symbolic meaning in terms of the reputation of the centre itself. Already people have said they will shop elsewhere.

No longer it feels good to shop in Hurstville.

Source: Coles-Myer Corporation. 1990. "Now it feels good to shop in Hurstville (Grace Bros Advertisement)." The Sunday Telegraph, April 8: 12.