Canberra Times (ACT : 1926 - 1995), Friday 10 September 1926, page 10


BUILDING OF CIVIC CENTRE

BIG RISE IN LEASE VALUES

Operations Commenced on First Section GREAT ACTIVITY FORESHADOWED

Great as is the activity at other centres of Canberra, the building of Civic Centre during the next few months promises to eclipse all previous building programmes.

There are 40 business sites in the civic centre subdi-visions, which have been sold already, and building will have been commenced on every lease by the end of the year, and on some of the leases buildings will be opened for business in the first weeks of the new year.

Building has already commenced while plans for many buildings have been prepared, and tenders for others have

already closed.

When the first subdivision of Civic

Centre was offered on December 12, 1924, bidding was not so spirited as for other portions of the city. This was perhaps due to the fact that buyers then could not quite visualise the real importance of the locality. The fact that the railhead was near Eastlake made Eastlake appear to be the best centre for investment. For immed-iate investment, Eastlake has proved the best, but the due importance of the Civic Centre is being realised in-creasingly as time passes and values there are likely to advance rapidly for some years.

At the first sale, the number of leases sold from the auctioneer's ros-trum was small. Subsequently there was a rush to secure leases, and all available blocks were soon taken up. The conditions on which the leases

BUILDING COMMENCES AT CIVIC CENTRE

THE SCENE OF GREAT ACTIVITY DURING THE NEXT FEW MONTHS

In addition to actual building operations, the provision of sewer connections, storm water pipes and road con-

struction are adding to the busy scene.

were sold included a covenant for the commencement of building within two years of the commencement of the term of the lease. This term will end on December 11 next for blocks dis-posed of at the first sale.

When the second subdivision was of-fered at auction in May last, purchas-ers of the leases were obliged to cov-enant to commence building before December 31 of this year. Thus on the whole of the leases sold in the two subdivisions, the covenants re-quire the commencement of building before the end of the present year.

The commencement of building has been hampered to some extent by the shortage of bricks but large supplies have been lying on the first sections of Civic Centre for a couple of months now preparatory to building commenc-ing in full swing. Early in August the excavating of foundations for the first building was commenced. The first structures to be raised on Civic Centre will be on leases numbered 15, 16, 22, and 28. On lease number 15, a shop and offices are being erected for Messrs Oakley and Parkes, archi-tects, and on the adjoining lease, num-ber 14, a similar building is being erected for Major Prisk. Both these leases face Northbourne Avenue, and the work on these buildings was the first undertaken in this section of the city.

Facing City Circuit, on lease num-ber 28, a shop and offices are being erected for Messrs. Woodgers and Cal-thorpe, while lease number 22 is being built on for the proprietor Helen Brak-enreg. The four buildings on which

work has commenced are being erected by the Canberra Building and Invest-

ment Co. Ltd.

Building is contemplated immed-iately by other leaseholders. Plans have been prepared for the Commer-cial Banking Company of Sydney, and plans are being finalised for the Bank of Australasia, and Messrs. Woodgers and Calthorpe's building on lease num-ber 4. The latter lease adjoins on the

of City Circuit and Road A 18.

On the number 2 subdivision, build-ing has been restricted because of pre-paratory work involved regarding the land. This was undertaken as one operation by the Federal Capital Com-mission for the whole of the leasehold-ers. The Commission has its plant   at work on the leases and has been able to remove overburden with more dispatch than by individual effort and

at a cheaper cost of 1/6 per cubic yard.

This work is now nearing comple-tion however, and as soon as the sites are ready, builders will take possession.

The Commonwealth Bank of Australia       is ready to proceed with its building on the corner of Northbourne

Avenue and City Circuit. Next door on lease number 15, the Canberra Building and Investment Company Ltd's headquarters will be commenced

while the next lease adjoining will have a building to house the Royal Insurance Company Ltd. Tenders have closed already for the building

of the Queensland National Bank on lease number 20, while the Commercial

Bank of Australia and the Bank of New South Wales which own the sites on either side have plans under con-

sideration for immediate building. The

Government Savings Bank of New South Wales which has purchased lease number 6 in this subdivision is also to commence building within a

few weeks.

Only three months remain in which lessees have an opportunity of com-mencing building and thus securing activity never before seen in Canberra will result. Even though the time which remains is short there is evi-

dence of a demand for leases on the part of people who are prepared to

undertake building immediately. Al-though it is within the power of the Federal Capital Commission to give immunity in special cases to people who have not been able to comply with their lease conditions, it is un-derstood that no allowances will be made under any circumstances which may be contemplated at present.