Goulburn Airport Aeropark Development

[Griqua]

A new aeropark development at Goulburn, NSW has won local government approval, and will be offering general aviation businesses a secure and affordable relocation within two hours of Sydney. Its developers now plan for construction to commence early next February for completion in March 2011.

Situated adjacent to Goulburn Airport, the $15m Inland City Aeropark will offer a total of 30 aviation-related lots over an area of 72 hectares, with an average lot size of 10,000sqm.

The approval requires the developer to upgrade infrastructure at the airport and includes sewerage, wastewater management, flood mitigation and all other services.

Total cost for the aeropark is projected at $15m, with an end-value estimated to be in excess of $180m.

Inland City Aeropark had been the unsuccessful bidder at the November 2008 auction of the Council-owned 63 hectare airport, which Domain Corporation contracted to buy for $2.65m, with plans for a $25m capital improvement programme at the airport over a period of seven years. However, the successful bidder failed to settle and the property has reverted to Council control.

Inland City Aeropark project co-ordinator Keith Sweeney says the proposed aeropark is planned along the needs of general aviation businesses so that they can locate the premises on freehold land with access to the airport and other industry services.

The aeropark's critical design aircraft is the Fairchild Aerospace Metroliner III, which is at the upper weight scale for general aviation category aircraft and ensures GA needs will be amply catered for. Twenty metre wide taxiways will offer aircraft access throughout the aeropark and roadway access is also on offer.

Inland City Aeropark says attractions to businesses include the fact that the aeropark offers the only freehold title general aviation for sale on the east coast of Australia. Its propinquity to the planned 263 hectare AUD1bn Southern Distribution Hub will ensure the success of the Aerotropolis concept, which includes ROAD, RAIL & AIR. The Hub development will commence construction with a major highway interchange, whcih will upgrade heavy vehicle access from the Hume Highway to the Hub development site, as well as Goulburn Airport and Inland City Aeropark.

The developer suggests that both state and federal governments are soon to publicly announce their future plans for freight and logistics opportunities in the Southern Tablelands, so locating general aviation operations to Inland City Aeropark, Goulburn, will make real sense.

It seems that Goulburn is now perfectly placed to plan and develop a comprehensive aviation precinct, which will offer itself as a viable alternative to the Sydney Basin's general aviation location concerns. Inland City Aeropark seeks to liaise with Goulburn Mulwaree Council in the preparation of a 20 year Airport Master Plan and assist with airport operations to ensure a compatible fit between the local community and aviation in general.

[soilmaster]

George Tzovaras pulls out of Kenmore Hospital deal.


BY LOUISE THROWER
29/05/2009 10:39:00 AM
FINANCIAL difficulties have forced a property investor to step down as a director of the company buying Goulburn airport.But Goulburn Mulwaree Council says there is nothing legally stopping the facility's sale to Domain Corporation (Goulburn Airport Pty Ltd), the company George Tzovaras established.
Mr Tzovaras is also abandoning the $6.9 million purchase of Kenmore Hospital, after exchanging contracts on the Taralga Rd facility last December.
"I have no interest in developing the airport," Mr Tzovaras told the Post on Wednesday.
"It's best I don't discuss it because it's too complex."
The council chose his company Domain Corporation Pty Ltd as the preferred buyer last December, following an expression of interest process.
That entity still remains, and is the legal basis on which the council says the sale can still proceed.
The company had planned a $25 million investment in the airport over seven years, including a terminal, flight-training centre and extensive landscaping. At the time, Mr Tzovaras described the impending purchase as "a blessing."

[soilmaster]

'Cunning crim' cleared to fly in airport plan

EAMONN DUFF AND LOUISE THROWER

September 13, 2009
http://images.smh.com.au/2009/09/12/727740/200keith-sweeney-200x0.jpg ‘‘Just an average guy’’ ... Keith Sweeney at Goulburn airport. Photo: Goulburn Post

A CONVICTED money launderer and banned real estate agent has won approval to build a $180 million aviation business park in country NSW.
Keith Albert Sweeney is one of the main players behind a plan for a 30-lot subdivision for hangars and associated businesses next to Goulburn airport.
As part of in-principle approval from the Goulburn Mulwaree Council last month, the developer Inland City Aeropark must spend $15 million to upgrade infrastructure, such as sewerage, on the 72-hectare site. The project will be worth a reported $180 million when finished.
It is the first time Mr Sweeney, 60, has resurfaced in public since a Sun-Herald investigation in February last year unearthed evidence of a money-laundering scam involving fictitious identities, illegal drugs and Sydney bikie gangs.
The exposé led to Mr Sweeney's disqualification as a registered NSW real estate agent.
Australian Securities and Investments Commission documents name Mr Sweeney as an office-holder behind Inland City Aeropark.
Mr Sweeney's track record in buying and selling lucrative land has raised eyebrows in the past. In 2007 he bought a cottage at Patonga on the Central Coast from dementia sufferer Daphne Dick, 83, who had been admitted to a nursing home, for $825,000 and resold it nine days later for $1.2 million. Local real estate agents described the sale price as "undervalued".
Mr Sweeney later called himself an "average guy" and likened the deal to "winning the lottery".
A closer inspection of his business dealings revealed a shadowy past. In June 1999 Queensland Supreme Court Justice John Helman called Mr Sweeney a "cunning criminal" after his real estate agency at Noosa Heads was used to facilitate a "double life".
The court heard that in 1994-95 the office received 250 kilograms of diphenhydramine, a veterinary medicine with effects "not dissimilar to amphetamines", enabling manufacturers to extend drug volume.
Bank records tendered to court showed Mr Sweeney used personal and company bank accounts to launder $265,500 in cash from "unknown sources". Police surveillance footage also showed him liaising with bikie gang members.
He pleaded guilty to money laundering and was sentenced to two years' jail. Mr Sweeney did not return The Sun-Herald's calls.
The council's general manager Chris Berry said: "I can confirm that Keith Sweeney is one of the main people involved. I've certainly read some of the articles about Mr Sweeney and the way he operates. It's all very interesting but . . . in NSW, we are obliged to make a town planning assessment based on the proposal and not the character of an individual."

[Griqua]

Good to see that development planning is progressing well for this project, after receiving local government approval, and that GA has embraced the concept with a large number of general aviation businesses from Bankstown having expressed interest in locating to the Goulburn Aeropark. The benefits to the community will be particularly attractive, with local employment to be boosted with new jobs expected throughout the construction stage.

[Wallsofchina]

With such a large number, it should be possible to name some of them, or is it just wishful thinking that hordes of companies would depart Sydney for the uncertain customer base of the bush.

[Griqua]

Not wishful thinking, more likely to be the only real alternative to a pressurised GA scene in the Sydney basin and you might be pleasantly surprised when it does become possible to identify the companies on the move, from both overseas and locally-based destinations.