West HQ: Rooty Hill RSL precinct renamed, five-star hotel announced

Rooty Hill RSL has usually attracted the working class people traditionally known to live in the area, but it’s up-market transformation has seen a new name and new plans unveiled.

• Rooty Hill station upgrade details finally released

FROM working class to high class.

A five-star hotel will be the next addition to the Rooty Hill RSL precinct, which has this week been officially renamed as its up-market transformation continues.

The precinct will now be known as West HQ — a move its chief executive says symbolises its future status as a “meeting place, a cultural hub and local icon” of western Sydney.

An aerial shot of the Rooty Hill RSL Club precinct — which has been renamed West HQ. Picture: Supplied

It features established businesses including the Rooty Hill RSL Club, Novotel Sydney Rooty Hill (to be renamed Novotel Sydney West HQ), Sydney Gymnastic and Aquatic Centre, One55 Health & Fitness, Sydney West Sports Medicine, Zone Bowling, Made By The Hill and Chur Burger Rooty Hill.

It will also include the $100-million Western Sydney Performing Arts Centre, a new $10-million dining area and eventually a five-star Pullman hotel complete with rooftop bar, chief executive Richard Errington revealed on Wednesday.

The new hotel would bring the number of rooms available at West HQ to more than 300.

The Western Sydney Performing Arts Centre under construction in Rooty Hill.

Western Sydney Performing Arts Centre executive director Craig McMaster inspects the construction site. Picture: Angelo Velardo

“With such iconic businesses already established, and all these exciting projects in the pipeline it became evident that the precinct had become … an integrated entertainment and leisure destination, requiring a brand and identity of its own, and so West HQ was born,” he said.

Mr Errington said the rebranding was a “significant milestone” for the precinct in the traditionally working-class community of Rooty Hill, which he said was the “geographical centre” of western Sydney.

It was officially renamed on Wednesday.

Bar tender Tatiana Krslovic at Made By The Hill, another recent addition to the precinct. Picture: Carmela Roche

Last year Rooty Hill RSL announced it was building the Western Sydney Performing Arts Centre, in the hope of drawing prestige stage shows, musicals and concerts to the west.

The 2000-seat venue is under construction and is set to open in late 2019.

“What sets a great theatre apart is the content that is on its stage … so my personal goal is to ensure that (the centre) becomes the centre of entertainment and the arts in western Sydney,” the centre’s executive director Craig McMaster said in May.

New dining areas including the Made By the Hill terrace bar and Chur Burger were also recently opened inside the RSL club in a revamp of its menu.

Blacktown councillor Brad Bunting said the announcement was great news for the area.

“We’ll take everything we can in western Sydney,” he said.

“This theatre is going to attract high-class performances. It’s great for the city, it expands our economy and creates local jobs.”

Mt Druitt state Labor MP Edmond Atalla said it was “exciting” to see those types of facilities being built in his electorate: “The entertainment centre is going to be the biggest in western Sydney.”