NSW to allow pokies in

The NSW government will allow clubs with poker machines to open in shopping centres, and will not impose a ban on cash advances against credit cards for ATMs in the malls. Gaming Minister Grant McBride has gazetted laws allowing clubs to build adjoining shopping centres without losing their betting licences, paving the way for the development of multi-purpose shopping and gambling sites. Mr McBride said the laws would protect people from irresponsible gambling by requiring the club and shopping complex to have separate entrances, Fairfax reports. Redeveloping clubs would also not be allowed to seek extra pokies licences, and could not have more than 40 shops or move the site of existing premises. However, ATMs in adjoining shopping centres would not have a ban on dispensing cash advances against credit cards, which is presently the policy on club ATMs.

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Shopping complex possible for Ninth

It's not a done deal yet, but a national shopping center developer is pushing ahead with plans to build a 90,000-square-foot retail complex on Northwest Ninth Street. Regency Centers of Jacksonville, Fla., has filed architectural drawings with the city for a development called Corvallis Market Center on the west side of Ninth between Garfield and Hayes avenues, on the site of the Corvallis Inn and the former Laidlaw bus yard.The site plan calls for a line of five large retail stores facing Ninth Street along the back of the 6.5-acre property: a 25,000-square-foot anchor tenant, secondary anchors of 18,300 and 17,500 square feet, and subanchors of 7,700 and 7,150 square feet, with a parking lot in front.Though he said it's too early to identify any of the prospective tenants, a company spokesman said the lineup would include three national clothing retailers."We have commitments for three tenants, and we're in negotiations with several others," said Craig Ramey, who works in the company's Oregon office in Lake Oswego.Corvallis Market Center also is slated to have two outbuildings along the Ninth Street frontage, an 11,600-square-foot structure near Garfield that would house five or six retail, restaurant or service businesses, and a 3,100-square-foot building near Hayes that could house a restaurant, bank or other free-standing business, possibly with a drive-through window.Ramey said the company hopes to begin demolition in the spring and start construction by May or June."The first tenants will open in first quarter 2008," he said.Before it can proceed, however, Regency has two hurdles to clear: It has to buy the land, and it has to get city approval for two land-use requests.The company is still negotiating with the property owners, but Ramey said there is "no question" the deal will go through.Murray Dorsey, owner of the former Laidlaw property, declined to comment on any possible sale, as did Joe Cicchese, general manager of the Corvallis Inn.The Corvallis Inn has been for sale since 2004, when mortgage holder Merrill Lynch Credit Corp.

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Mid Rivers shopping is getting pricier

Those who shop at many of the stores at Westfield Mid Rivers, in St. Peters, will have to pay an extra 1-cent in sales tax starting sometime in 2008.The money will go toward funding an estimated $13.7 million in public improvements - including a $6.5 million parking deck - that are part of a 72,000-square-foot expansion of the mall.Not all the stores in and around the shopping mall will be part of what's called a Community Improvement District. Buildings owned by Westfield are in the district. Those not owned by Westfield are not and therefore are free of the new sales tax.For example, Best Buy is in the district and Circuit City is not.The details of how a Community Improvement District is established are left up to the developer, according to Cathy Pratt, the city's manager of engineering and development services.

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