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.

1967: Kareela is gazetted

To our followers from Kareela, find out below how your suburb was gazetted and even why its streets got their names. The suburb was developed by Stocks and Holdings.

  

Source: Anon. 1967. "Multi-million dollar estate to be called Kareela". The St George and Sutherland Shire Leader, November 8:27. 

Property Advert of the Week: Newington (1999)

Yes, I have posted one advertisement promoting apartments for sale at Newington, but this one from 1999 is nice to post as well.





Source: Mirvac Group & Lend Lease. 1999. "Blue chip" (Advertisement). The Sydney Morning Herald, June 5:22 (Real Estate Liftout).

MILESTONE: Westfield Burwood opens (1966)

Above: An advertisement by Westfield to promote the opening of their new centre at Burwood. It was published in The Sun  on October 10 1966. 

On the back of Bankstown Square opening in 1966 and Roselands the year before, the emerging Westfield Development Corporation (Westfield Group)  needed to step up in what their centres offered to Sydney shoppers.

Westfield had centres at Hornsby, Blacktown, Eastwood, Baulkham Hills and Dee Why. Except for Hornsby, the other centres are no longer managed by Westfield.

The centre was known as Westfield Burwood Shoppingtown and was the first centre to carry the famous Westfield logo.

Key facts:

• Westfield selected Burwood due to its location between Parramatta & the Sydney CBD and Westfield wanted to revitalise Burwood, even believing it would benefit businesses on Burwood Road. 
• Construction took 12 months and cost $8 million.
• Major tenants included Farmers (Myer), Coles, Winns & Mark Foys. 
• First shopping centre in NSW to have shops sloped on an incline, making it possible for a shopper not to use stairs to access the two levels inside the centre. Westfield Hurstville (1978) and Macquarie Centre (1981) have layouts based on the incline. 
• First Westfield Shopping Centre to be branded as a "shoppingtown". The idea of a "shoppingtown" was that the centre would contain more than just shops, but professional services like cinemas, petrol stations, doctors and dentists. There were even commercial offices available, though the redeveloped centre no longer has an office component. 
• The original centre had a Hoyts Cinema and Ampol Petrol station.
• 1,000 car parking spaces across three levels.

Below are some assorted advertisements to promote its opening sourced from the major Sydney newspapers at the time of opening.

An advertisement for Farmers:

And one for Coles.

None of the original centre remains today. As part of the redevelopment of Westfield Burwood, the entire centre was demolished and rebuilt from scratch during 1999 and was reopened to the public in 2000. It now has 250 shops. Coles remains but Farmers (which became Myer, then Grace Bros and reverted to Myer) left in 2007 and was replaced by David Jones.

Finally, for those of you on Facebook, there is a Facebook Page (Old Westfield Shoppingtown Burwood Memories) dedicated to the original Westfield complex itself with photos and tales.

Property Advert of the Week: Belrose Heights Land Release (1966)

This advertisement is for a land release in Belrose Heights, dating to February 1966. It was being urged to buy before the opening of the Roseville Bridge.



Source: Anonymous. 1966. "Belrose Hgts." (Advertisement).  The Daily Telegraph, February 12:39.

1987: Sydney Airport Centre development

In late 1987, plans were unveiled by CRI for a major development at Mascot, near the Domestic Terminal complex. The development would include an 11 storey hotel with a retail complex, plus new catering facilities for Qantas and major airlines. Bourke Street. would be extended through the area.

Source: Holland, L. 1987. "$150m hotel complex on airport site". The Daily Telegraph, November 25:9. 

The hotel was built and is currently the Holiday Inn Sydney Airport. In recent years, the Adina Apartment Hotel has opened alongside it. Qantas ended up basing their headquarters there. The key decisions that Qantas have made in recent decades have been made right at Mascot, not a boardroom in central Sydney.

This combined with the decision to construct Mascot Railway Station as part of the Airport Line (opened 2000) has helped establish it as a centre of business. It's proximity to rail and to the city also has aided in the establishment as a residential hub. Mascot is also regarded as part of Sydney's global arc of business stretching from Sydney Airport north to the Sydney CBD and northwest to Chatswood and North Ryde.

Below are two photos of the Qantas Headquarters (Photos taken by the Author).

Holiday Inn Sydney Airport (Photo taken by the Author). 

And finally, two photos of the area around Mascot Station in 2011 (Photos taken by the Author).

Property Advert of the Week: Carlingford Land Release by Stocks & Holdings (1966)

This advertisement was featured in the February 12 1966 edition of The Daily Telegraph, where two thousand pounds bought you a block of land at where I believe is Camelot Court, Carlingford.

And just two days before we embraced the dollars and cents!!!

In today's money, this was equivalent to around $50 000 according to the RBA Inflation Calculator.



Source: Stocks & Holdings Projects. 1966. "Carlingford: Land!" (Advertisement). The Daily Telegraph, February 12:44.

1985: Mount Street becomes a pedestrian mall

As part of the North Sydney Traffic Management Plan, a section of Mount Street from Miller Street through to Denison Street was closed off to traffic for shoppers in North Sydney but also to separate the through traffic from the local traffic. Instead of using Mount Street to access the Warringah Expressway from the Pacific Highway, motorists would be diverted one block north at Berry Street. This arrangement remains today.

Source: Department of Main Roads (NSW). 1985. "North Sydney Traffic" (Advertisement). The Daily Telegraph, September 24:14-15.

Property Advert of the Week: Kingston Heath (1995)

This week, I share with you an advertisement for Kingston Heath Apartment Tower which was part of the Raleigh Park development.

Note that Westfield was involved in its development, interesting given it is considering the construction of apartments above its shopping centres.

Source: Mirvac. 1995. "Kingston Heath Apartments" (Advertisement). The Sydney Morning Herald, June 24:87. 

MILESTONE: Bankstown Square Opens (1966)

Source: Anon. 1966. "New trends set by $17m regional project". The Sydney Morning Herald, September 20:20.

Today, Bankstown Central (formerly known as Bankstown Square) turns fifty. In 1966 there was a much fanfare when its doors opened for the first time to shoppers. Back then, it had the title of the biggest shopping centre in Australia, with more than 100 shops. It had seized the title from nearby Roselands, which itself had opened just 12 months before.

The centre was officially opened by Lady Cutler (wife of NSW Governor Sir Roden Cutler) on September 21, 1966. Lady Cutler Drive was named in her honour.

I'll keep it simple with a random assortment of clippings from The Torch which produced a special edition one day before its opening on September 20, 1966. 

The first clipping is a two-page spread documenting its construction, which occurred over a two year period.

Some photos of the opening on September 21 as published in The Torch on September 28, 1966. 130 000 were reported to have attended the opening.

I have included an editorial from the September 21, 1966, edition of The Torch which was the opening day

The St George and Sutherland Shire Leader published a map in its September 21 edition.

Facts of interest:

• Lend Lease were developers and construction costs were $17 million.
• The original centre had around 130 shops, compared with the 250 today. 
• Parking was available for 2500 cars. 
• Major tenants included David Jones, Nock & Kirby's, Woolworths and BigW. Woolworths and BigW are still based in the centre while David Jones left in 2007 (now occupied by Myer). 

Below are some advertisements for some of the major retailers:

David Jones

Woolworths

Woolworths Variety

Palmers

Nock & Kirbys

BigW