The old Roche industrial site at Cromer has been reopened as a new business park after a $140m redevelopment.
The formal cutting of the ribbon (main image) to open the new Northern Beaches Business Park occurred at 10.00am this morning (Wednesday, 15 November) at 4-8 Inman Road, Cromer. The ceremony included invited dignitaries, Wakehurst MP Michael Regan and Northern Beaches Mayor Sue Heins.
The new business park is the result of a $140m redevelopment of the old Roche manufacturing site, with its iconic Roche tower (image above), that has been retained as part of the rebuild.
Around 30 people were present at the opening ceremony, with the history of the 26,902sq.m site as the former manufacturing site for Roche given a nod with reference to the popularity of its most famous product, Berocca.
The building project was undertaken by Richard Crookes Constructions and funded by new site owner EG Funds Management. Joint Managing Director of EG Funds Management Roger Parker (image above) said the Northern Beaches location appealed to them.
“We really liked the Northern Beaches community, and we saw this large site that Roche were pulling out from. They had been here since the 1960s. There was manufacturing here, and the site seemed to be something that a lot of developers were struggling with.
“They were struggling to get the numbers to stack up, but we engaged with Roche and we came up with a strategy where we looked to blend residential, and maintain the industrial and the employment base on site. That went down very well with local government and we managed to go through the planning process with that,” said Mr Parker.
After a few years involved in the planning process, the actual site redevelopment has taken around 18 months. Mr Parker said that around half the premises were already leased, many to tenants with a sporty theme.
“It suits the area, we are surrounded by sports fields and local community. We’ve got a swim school, a gym, a child-care centre, a boxing group, an indoor golf centre, an indoor trampoline park, and a new sport called padel, which is sort of a short form of style of tennis. It’s a real mix and we have lots of parking.
“We do have a lot of small businesses and light industrial looking at the remaining units and storage. It’s going to be typical for the area, that blend of small businesses serving the local community as well as light industrial manufacturing,” explained Mr Parker.
The first business to open its doors in the new business park is Precision Golf, an indoor golfing facility, which was finalising its fit-out this morning and will open officially to the public next Monday, 20 November (image above).
Images: Northern Beaches Advocate
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