Government deal allows for centre upgrade

THE CasCom Centre in Casuarina has been given a lick of fresh paint as part of a government stimulus program

The owner of a commercial building, with NT government as tenants, has benefited from the Property Stimulus Scheme spending $3.6m on the building – the Cascom Centre. Picture: Che Chorley

THE CasCom Centre at Casuarina has been given a lick of fresh paint, undercover parking and new elevators as part of a government stimulus program.

Owners of government leased properties are doing up their buildings in return for long-term lease agreements.

So far 30 building owners from across the Northern Territory have taken up the offer with businesses spending more than $50m.

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Under the agreement work must be undertaken by local contractors.

Sentinel Property Group owns CasCom Centre and spent $3.6m renovating the property.

Sentinel Property Group executive chairman Warren Ebert said the upgrades were about making the centre more accessible and easier to navigate.

“What we’ve done is, as you can see, we’ve colour coded the buildings, so say I’m in the blue building or the turquoise or the yellow or the red, it’s easy to find,” he said.

Member for Casuarina Lauren Moss and Sentinel Property Group executive chairman Warren Ebert stand in front of the new bike lockers at Cascom Centre. Picture: Che Chorley

Shade over the car parks, a solar array and new bathrooms and foyer upgrades have also been undertaken.

“All the pavers have been ripped up and this has been done so when you walk on it, it doesn’t get slippery and it’s code compliant where before there were some steps up.”

Mr Ebert said they had also added a bike shed to allow people to ride to work and keep their bike in a secure location. He said the stimulus allowed them to complete work they otherwise would have had to do over several years. “There’s no way this amount of work would have happened now,” he said.

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Member for Casuarina Lauren Moss said the leased property stimulus scheme allowed money to be spent in the construction industry with the assurance that the property would continue to be leased. “We’ve known that there have been economic challenges for some time and that the construction industry is a really good way to provide that stimulus as well, so the property leasing scheme really provides the incentive for property owners to be investing in their buildings,” she said.