OLD COP SHOP MAKES WAY FOR NEW CLUB DEVELOPMENT
A new multi-million dollar development at Cabra-Vale Diggers involving a four-star Novotel Hotel, new bowling greens, clubhouse and a range of extended club amenities has recently been greenlighted by the Joint Regional Planning Panel on recommendation from Fairfield Council.
Stage 1 of the club development which will commence this month will see the demolition of the old Cabramatta police station at 1 Bartley Street which was the areas ground zero for addressing and implementing many of the initiatives which rescued and revived the area.
A generation ago, people arriving by train in Cabramatta would exit the station only to find themselves in a bustling open-air heroin market where gunfights erupted between gangs over turf.
Back in the 90’s Cabramatta was the epicentre of the Sydney drug trade that spawned an epidemic of associated crimes like burglary, shoplifting, bag snatching, holdups and prostitution. It was also the location of Australia’s first and only political assassination in 1994.
Local police at the time described the western Sydney suburb as a war zone.
However, through a mix of aggressive policing like the ‘New York style’ police blitz known as Operation Puccini, the hard work of residents, community organisations and some government intervention, Cabramatta underwent a stark transformation. It is now a lively area renowned as a destination for some of Sydney’s best Vietnamese food. The new Cabra-Vale Diggers development, perhaps one of the largest in the Fairfield area, is yet another sign of progress for the district.
The new development will include:
- Two new grass surfaced bowling greens positioned at the southwestern side of the club with a state-of-the-art clubhouse
- New indoor community hub for activities including Zumba, table tennis, indoor bowls, karaoke etc
- Increase of meeting rooms from four to eight to provide more facilities to sub-clubs, local not-for-profit organisations and to support local businesses requiring meeting spaces
- New cafe positioned centrally within the club
- New and more spacious gaming room, though retaining the same number of machines
- New 140 room hotel positioned on the northeastern side of the club to meet a gap in the local market, provide additional local employment opportunities and to attract more commercial events including conferences to the local area, providing benefits to our local businesses
- Adjacent to the Hotel and interconnected to the main club site will be a new 700 seat Events/Ballroom, VIP Cinema and new state-of-the-art Karaoke facility, plus additional function rooms.
- An additional 272 car parking spaces
