Latest from Perth Now
Perth Now
37 minutes ago
- Business
- Perth Now
Popular Irish club in Subiaco under threat after 50 years
Guinness has flowed as thick and fast as the accents at Subiaco's Irish Club for almost 50 years, but could its day be numbered? The building has hit the market, with property agents spruiking the potential for a redevelopment with a four storey limit. Ray White Commercial is seeking $2 million for the Subiaco institution, which is contracted to the Irish Club under a lease. But with its city centre zoning at its central Townshend Rd location, it is likely to catch developers' eyes, which could spell the end of the steady tenancy for the much-loved institution. 'An opportunity to acquire a large freehold building, with development potential, fully equipped for entertainment and a large capacity club licence,' says the ad. 'Featuring a ballroom/hall, full stage with green room and lighting equipment, commercial kitchen and bar upstairs and downstairs, the premises is ideal for clubs, office, associations, recreation, place of worship, function centre or simply a high density development site.' Ray White Commercial agent Stephen Harrison said the two storey property sits on 608sqm of land, offering about 800 sqm of internal space. It has a 400 person capacity club license. The Irish Club in Subiaco has been serving Guiness for nearly 50 years. Credit: Supplied Cedar Woods has appointed a builder for its Incontro project in Subiaco, in a sign of returning confidence to the apartment market. Cedar Woods has this week announced that it has appointed a builder — EMCO Building — for the 110-complex including apartments and townhouses on Salvado St. Construction is due to start next month and completion expected mid-2027. The progress is a sign a returning positivity in the construction sector, given it was greenlit earlier this year after being shelved for years. The project launched in October 2021, then shelved in April 2022 when the numbers no longer stacked up. At the time, consumers were not prepared to pay what it would have cost a developer to build it, while the uncertainty of the fast and unpredictable hikes in construction costs were also a hindrance. Irish Club Subiaco - Credit: supplied Construction costs are still increasing, but rising in a slower and more predictable manner, while the apartment price tags have also risen. Cedar Woods managing director Nathan Blackburne said there had been a strong response to Incontro Apartments had been fantastic which he attributed partly to prices, which are at the cheaper end for Subiaco. The $614,000 apartments have sold out, with the $624,000 abodes now the cheapest. 'With close to 50 per cent already sold prior to construction, it's clear that Incontro Apartments' attractive price point and well-connected Subiaco location are really resonating with buyers.' EMCO building general manager Ronan Cosgrove said there had been a strong period of collaboration with Cedar Woods. Irish Club Subiaco - exterior Credit: supplied Tenants are being sought to anchor the upcoming development at 110 Marine Parade, adjacent to Cottesloe Beach Hotel. With retail shops a rarity along the food and beverage strip opposite Perth's most famous beach, the tenancies are being described as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. The shops will be close to home to some of WA's most popular venues, including Il Lido, Indigo Oscar, Gibney, The Shorehouse and Magic Apple. The shops will help define the Marine Parade's modern makeover. Shops spaces, leased through Lease Equity, are from 55sqm-204sqm. Marine Parade shops seeking tenants Credit: supplied The one-time home to the long Friday lunch — the former Mediterranean restaurant, sold for $3,133,000 earlier this year. Sitting on a 748sqm block at the corner of Rokeby and Nicholson Rd, the property was sold with approved plans for a five storey development. It has 17 on site car bays and 646sqm of internal space. The site has a rich history as a former restaurant where some of Perth most colourful business people like to frequent. It was later used as an office by Julie Bishop. As for its next step — watch this space.
Perth Now
37 minutes ago
- Business
- Perth Now
‘Really sad': Local Perth shopping centre to be demolished
Duncraig resident Neal Meakins channelled Muriel's Wedding's character Bill Heslop when describing how he was disappointed his local shopping centre would be demolished. 'It's obviously a shame, but you can't stop progress,' he said of the proposed redevelopment of the Glengarry Shopping Centre, which is set to be demolished to make way for a Woolworths supermarket — forcing out the local IGA — as well as new shops, eateries and commercial space. Earlier this year, Woolworths — the country's biggest supermarket chain — lodged a development application with the City of Joondalup to redevelop the 20-store centre, which is currently home to an IGA, several family-owned businesses and a post office. 'I've been shopping here for a long time and it's a shame for me to go somewhere else because I know the shop so well,' Mr Meakins said. Duncraig resident Neal Meakins. Credit: Andrew Ritchie / The West Australian The controversial Glengarry redevelopment comes as Woolworths postpones new builds on Charles Street in North Perth and Murray Street in West Perth, sparking questions about the supermarket's commercial strategies. It's understood some WA sites had higher construction costs based on their designs, which had affected development timelines. A Woolworths spokesman said it was excited about the opportunity to upgrade and modernise the Glengarry shopping centre. He added the community was currently under-serviced in terms of grocery retail with no full line supermarket. Glengarry Shopping Centre. Credit: Andrew Ritchie / The West Australian Inside of Glengarry Shopping Centre. Credit: Andrew Ritchie / The West Australian 'The redevelopment would include new services and convenient shopping options, and aims to create a vibrant place for small business and the community,' the company spokesman said. 'From time to time we acquire existing neighbourhood shopping centres that are in need of investment to improve the amenity and the offer for the community, leading to a local economy and jobs boost.' IGA supplier Metcash told The Sunday Times the independent grocer planned to exit Glengarry because though Woolworths had allowed for a 'very small second supermarket', it was not tenable for an IGA for several reasons, including size and location, with no direct access to a loading dock. Render of Woolworths' proposal. Credit: Supplied Metcash supplies to over 1600 independently-owned stores in Australia across the IGA and Foodland brands. Grant Ramage, the boss of Metcash's food arm, flagged concerns about the independents' ability to remain a viable competitor when one of the bigger supermarkets could just muscle in. Coles last year acquired the Milton Village shopping centre in Brisbane's inner west and as part of the redevelopment, did not renew the lease of the IGA that had been there for decades. In NSW, the Elermore Vale shopping centre was purchased by a developer as a proxy for Woolworths, paying $27 million in 2023. Woolworths is expected to replace the IGA once the lease expires in 2028. 'The trend known as creeping acquisitions is ongoing and contributes to the erosion of independent supermarket presence in local markets over time, and the overall scale of the independent network, needed to maintain a competitive offer,' Mr Ramage said. The Outer Metropolitan Development Assessment Panel will make a decision on Woolworths' application at a later date, with the City of Joondalup yet to provide a recommendation. I'm not sure why we need another Woolworths or Coles when there are so many nearby. For marketing and retail analyst Barry Urquhart, this was just part of the near-50-year-old Glengarry centre's life cycle. 'What you've got to say is that all things come to an end,' Mr Urquhart, managing director of Perth-based research company Marketing Focus, said. 'Any business that has been around operating, in any premises, beyond 15 years, a lot of consumers will say, 'Has it had its life cycle fulfilled' and therefore, it needs to be renewed, upgraded or replaced.' Asked if he agreed with Woolworths' claims the Glengarry redevelopment would improve shopping convenience and create a vibrant place for small business tenants and the community in Duncraig, Mr Ramage said there was no new residential redevelopment to justify another large supermarket. He added there were six existing Woolworths supermarkets within a 10-minute drive of Duncraig. But for some shoppers and local businesses that occupy the centre, the proposed redevelopment is long overdue, with the roof caving in. Rosemarie Persson, owner of Duncraig-Glengarry Flowers & Gifts, said the redevelopment was 'going to be fantastic for the area'. 'It will bring in more people, which it needs. It's a tired old little shopping centre and it just needs it,' she said. 'There's going to be more coffee shops and more places to eat, a Woolworths, more variety. But hopefully all the small businesses around here can come back and benefit from that.' Shopper Moira McFarlane welcomed the news of a bigger and modern centre with basement parking, but she was concerned about the traffic it would bring. '(The redevelopment is) well overdue, well overdue,' she said. 'My concern is the traffic, because it's bad enough now. The deliveries and trucks coming in near the hospitals next door is a bit concerning.' While Woolworths had offered Holmesys Bakehouse owner Steven Holmes a spot in the new centre, he said he wouldn't be able to afford the costs of temporary relocation. 'As a small business owner, I cannot afford it. I've only been here for three years, and I haven't even got the revenue yet,' he said. 'Which I have told them . . . so yeah, I'm just taking the money and I'm gone. 'There's positives and negatives for everything, but I don't understand why (Woolworths) is building here when they've got one literally five minutes up the road in Warwick.' Duncraig local Karen Kroeger said local shopping centres like Glengarry suited independent grocers. 'I'm not sure why we need another Woolworths or Coles when there are so many nearby,' she said. 'I feel for a lot of small businesses who may not be able to operate in a new centre place because of rent increases, or there's not enough space, and it's also hard and costly for them to start somewhere again in a different location,' she said. Duncraig local Karen Kroeger and son Patrick. Credit: Andrew Ritchie / The West Australian 'It's really sad for them; they've built up their reputations here, and they know all the locals.' The owner of Glengarry IGA declined to comment. Mr Ramage said consumers could face less variety and reduced product range and availability, as well as poorer service — or none at all when they are forced to use self-checkouts — with the arrival of Woolworths. He added that despite the millions of dollars of taxpayer money spent, the string of public inquiries into Australia's supermarket sector inquiries had not adequately addressed the issue of anti-competitive acquisitions. 'We are hopeful that the new merger laws will assist when they come into effect but will only go so far and won't reverse the damage done to date,' Mr Ramage said. Treasurer Jim Chalmers last October introduced new rules requiring any mergers that exceed a broad set of financial thresholds to get approval from the competition regulator. Under the current regime, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission only has the power to stop or legally challenge mergers it deems as having a substantial impact in the market. From the start of next year, a merger will need the green light from the watchdog if the combined turnover of the merging businesses is more than $200m, and either the business or assets being bought has turnover higher than $50m, or the global transaction value is above $250m. Deals where an Australian business turning over $500m tries to buy out another smaller business, with turnover above $10m, will also be captured under the new rules. From this month, businesses may voluntarily notify acquisitions to the ACCC. The ACCC in March delivered its final report into the $120 billion supermarket sector, which confirmed Coles and Woolworths' dominance. Former ACCC chair Graeme Samuel, who led the watchdog between 2003 and 2011, criticised the report's recommendations as not having enough teeth. Among the ACCC's list of recommendations, supermarkets should be required to inform customers when product sizes have changed and this information should be in close proximity to shelf tickets and on relevant websites. In response to the ACCC report, Metcash said it was pleased the regulator recognised the competitive role independents played in local communities. But Metcash said it was concerned with the growing dominance of the major supermarkets and their ability to grow through creeping acquisitions of independents and land banking.
Perth Now
37 minutes ago
- Entertainment
- Perth Now
Six Feet Under was underappreciated, says Michael C Hall
Michael C Hall thinks Six Feet Under was "underappreciated". The 54-year-old actor starred in the hit drama series between 2001 and 2005, but Michael doesn't think the show gets the respect that it deserves for breaking "storytelling boundaries". He told The Independent: "The Sopranos was like the firstborn, golden son, and Six Feet Under was sort of the black-sheep sibling. It existed, zeitgeist-wise, or priorities-of-the-network-wise, in the shadow of The Sopranos. But I don't have a chip on my shoulder about Six Feet Under being massively underappreciated." Six Feet Under followed a family who ran a funeral home in Los Angeles, and Michael thinks it proved to be hugely influential within the TV industry The actor said: "I knew it meant a great deal to people who loved it, and it broke storytelling boundaries in a way that paved the way for a great many storytellers that followed." Meanwhile, Michael is reprising the role of Dexter Morgan for Dexter: Resurrection. The sequel series sees Dexter awake from a coma, and Michael admits that he found the idea of reviving the iconic TV character to be "enticing". The actor shared: "I became increasingly compelled by the notion that, if he didn't die, Dexter may finally find himself liberated. "He's been lugging around and brooding over his past for many years, and the idea of finding him in a new environment was enticing. It always felt like a crapshoot, a dice roll, whatever you want to call it – but it was worth rolling those dice." The sequel series stars the likes of Uma Thurman and Peter Dinklage, and Michael admits that much of his career success stems from the talented people he's worked with. Michael - who also reprised the role of Dexter for Dexter: New Blood and Dexter: Original Sin - explained: "As an actor, you're only as good as the people you're acting with. "And it was gratifying that people of this calibre joined us – it gave us a sense that, OK, we're not out of our minds. If Peter Dinklage or Uma Thurman saw something they thought was a horrendous idea, they wouldn't sign up."
Perth Now
37 minutes ago
- Entertainment
- Perth Now
Teddi Mellencamp confirms split from Ricci Rea
Teddi Mellencamp has split from Ricci Rea. The 44-year-old TV star was spotted with a mystery man last month and it was subsequently revealed that she was dating the producer - but Teddi has now revealed that she's already ended their romance. During an appearance on the Diamonds in the Rough podcast, Teddi shared: "You guys, [the] press needs to get on it a little bit faster because by the time they figured out who my mystery man was, we're already done. "I had to call things off. "All of a sudden, I open up the freaking worldwide web. I'm like, 'The mystery man.' Oh, now you guys figured it out." Teddi described Ricci as a "really nice guy". However, she doesn't think she's ready for a serious romance at this point in time. The reality star - who split from her husband, Edwin Arroyave, in 2024 - said: "Right now, it started getting to the point where it's starting to get a little bit more serious. I was like, 'I don't have the capacity for this right now.' "He's a really nice guy, couldn't be a nicer guy." "I don't feel my best. So, when I have downtime, I want to rest. It's not even, like, about a need right now, and I think that's the crazy thing about this." Meanwhile, Teddi recently confessed that she's ignoring "hard conversations" about the future. The reality star was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer earlier this year after she was found to have multiple tumours on her brain and lungs, and although she has successfully undergone immunotherapy - which has seen the growths "significantly" shrink - Teddi is "in denial" of her physical condition. Speaking on her Two Ts in a Pod podcast, she said: "I think it's really hard being in a place where, I kind of am in denial of where I am physically. And when other people are not in denial, it's hard. "My family wants to have like the hard conversations, and I don't ... They want to talk about things like the future, or medically, exactly how I'm doing, and I don't want to talk about it."
Perth Now
37 minutes ago
- Entertainment
- Perth Now
Ariana Madix: I'm the Glam Reaper on Love Island USA
Ariana Madix feels like the "Glam Reaper" on Love Island USA. The 40-year-old star has hosted the hit TV show since 2024, and Ariana admits that she hates delivering bad news to the Islanders. She told Maura Higgins on Love Island USA: Aftersun: "[They] gas me up when I come in [to the villa] because I always hope that I get to bring good news but sometimes I'm the Glam Reaper." Despite this, Ariana has developed real affection for this year's Islanders. The former Vanderpump Rules star admires the contestants for putting themselves in the spotlight and exposing themselves to potentially fierce public criticism. Ariana - who starred on Vanderpump Rules between 2013 and 2024 - shared: "The islanders who were eliminated, there's been a lot of stuff that's just been crazy. "I just want them to know, and any islander who has also left the villa this point, I just want them all to know how much I genuinely really love them and appreciate them for putting themselves out there." Meanwhile, Vanderpump Rules has undergone a reboot ahead of season 12 of the show, and Ariana previously warned the all-new cast that they have a "tough road ahead of them". The reality star is excited to watch the upcoming season of the long-running TV show, but she insisted that it won't be an easy experience for the new line-up. Ariana - who made her Broadway as Roxie Hart in the musical Chicago in 2024 - told Extra: "I'm excited to see, I guess, how it works. "It's such a hard thing to do, I think, to put yourself out there … They have a tough road ahead of them … Anybody, I think, who's done that has lived that, and I think they'll be great. They'll have fun." Ariana also revealed that she learned a lot about herself during her time on Vanderpump Rules. She said: "I've learned to trust myself. I've also learned to trust my gut more and I think I've learned that I can do things that are hard in life."
