Welcome, it’s Adrian Bo from Ray White, Park Coast Eastern Suburbs. And today I’m outside the iconic institution on St Paul’s Street in Randwick, The Ritz Cinema, to talk about a new addition to the Australian Film Walk of Fame, as well as a review of some local planning issues in the works in Randwick and Coogee. So I previously told the story of The Ritz Cinema here on St Pauls Street, where the art deco design was put together by a man from Crimea in Ukraine, called Aaron Bolot in 1937. Also how “Tight Tuesdays” flourished in the 70s and 80s, and in 2009, the Australian Film Walk of Fame was established here, on the pavement outside The Ritz. A set of plaques commemorating significant contributions by Australian actors and actresses including Bud Tingwell, Claudia Karvan, Michael Caton, Gary Sweet, and several other stars of the big and small screen. On April 28th a new plaque will be installed to coincide with the launch of a major new movie called “The Drover’s Wife,” which stars the inductee, Leah Purcell. Leah is a proud indigenous actor who has a great history in the movie business, having starred in Jindabyne, Lantana and The Last Cab to Darwin as well as the acclaimed TV series, Wentworth. The Drover’s Wife is set in 1893 in the Outback of Australia, painting a very rough and tough society where Leah plays a pregnant woman fighting for survival on her own with her children. Filming took place across the Snowy Monaro Mountains area. Leah had previously played the same role in the theatre version of The Drover’s Wife, a play that she wrote based on the book by Henry Lawson, which her mother read to her as a child.

The Sydney Morning Herald said about the play that “The Drover’s Wife is a potent piece of storytelling”. So congratulations to Leah for this recognition, and the movie sounds a great educator of the tough life of the time. Now recent RCC meetings have brought to the surface several big issues. There is a proposal under discussion to revamp the Randwick area nightlife, taking into account The Eastern Suburbs from Clovelly to La Perouse including Coogee and Maroubra. The proposal would allow smaller bars to open until 2:00 AM, with a longer term goal of creating a 24 hour economy that has been called “The Newtown of the East”. The target being to increase the number of businesses by 20% over the next 10 years, where spending would increase between 6:00 PM and 6:00 AM, and a potential 9,200 jobs could be created. It sounds an ambitious plan and for sure there will need to be noise mitigation procedures for the local residents. However, Council have produced a brochure on the proposal which I will link to in the post. Another local issue under discussion recently is the Coogee Bay Hotel proposal, the proposed $111 million revamp, to feature an Eat Street and a 6 storey commercial and residential development, was due to be clarified, but some late changes to the proposed design were not ready hence it was decided to postpone the actual decision.

The development has had some opposition so we will see if there is an imminent resolution there. Now the Randwick housing market is still going very strong in 2022. For example, four bedroom houses have risen by 28.7% over the last 12 months, I sold a beautiful four bedroom, three bathroom home, at 17 Dooligah Avenue here in Randwick last couple of weeks. Now three bedroom houses in Randwick have gone up by a massive 31.2% over the last 12 months, with five bedroom houses seeing a median growth of 25.8%. The unit market has also done extremely well with one bedroom apartments being up by 13.9%, two bedroom apartments up by 16.2%, and three bedrooms we’re seeing an increase of 30.9%. The market is holding up well despite more property to choose from, and I’ll always be delighted to offer you a market appraisal should you wish to gain a valuation on your property by calling 0418 278 316, or by email adrian.bo@raywhite.com. Please enjoy this beautiful autumn weather and always remember your home is worth more with Adrian Bo.