Roseville’s historic cinema is officially hitting the market, 52 years since it was purchased by the Van Pinxteren family in 1974.

Originally built in 1912 as a community hall, Roseville Cinemas opened in 1936 and hosted concerts, major film premiers and even acted as a recruitment centre for troops during World War I.

Sitting just opposite Roseville Train Station, the site is currently open to Expressions of Interest through global property consultancy Knight Frank.

How we got here: A June judgement from the Supreme Court of NSW ordered the sale, with a trustee appointed. The case was initially brought to the court by three defendants — Marcos Holdings, Emma Addario (the director of the cinema) and Lisa Van Pinxteren — in relation to the will of the late Susan Helen Van Pixteren.

Rich history: Mark Litwin, agent at Knight Frank, said in a statement the property was one of the most unique investment opportunities to come to the market in Sydney this year.

“The Roseville Cinema is one of Sydney’s last remaining independent cinemas and has served the local community for more than a century”, he said. “Opportunities to acquire assets with this level of history and prominence are extraordinarily scarce”.

The cinema is located within Roseville’s Transit-Oriented Development precinct, meaning it will sit at the centre of a growing hub of apartments and shops within the suburb.

Expressions of Interest close at 3pm on October 8, 2026.

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A problematic lease agreement drawn up over 20 years ago lies at the heart of a North Shore dispute that has seen a well-established tennis centre booted out in favour of a new tenant.

Northern Suburbs Tennis Association (NSTA), based in Naremburn, has eight tennis courts and two buildings, which include a clubhouse, cafe, office space and changing rooms.

The association has operated out of the prime, 15,000 square metre, Talus Reserve site for 48 years. The land was leased to the group by Willoughby Council, which collected a relatively modest rent in return. 

Last week, it was announced that a new operator, Racquet Club, would be taking over as the site’s operator. Racquet Club co-founder Darren McMullen said the decision came down to making a better offer on rent. 

What happened: On August 7, NSTA received an eviction notice, stating the group would have to vacate the site by the end of September. 

The letter came from the Metropolitan Local Aboriginal Land Council (MLALC), which in  2022 had made a successful claim on the land and part of the adjacent reserve. 

How do land claims work? 

There are two legal frameworks under which Aboriginal land rights can be recognised in NSW. 

Ownership of Talus Reserve was transferred to the Metropolitan Local Aboriginal Land Council via this second system, after a claim was approved in 2022 by then Planning Minister Rob Stokes. 

Why?: At the nub of the matter was the requirement for the site to not currently be in use. Clearly, the Naremburn site was long-established as a tennis centre, and so was in use.

However, bubbling away in the background was a 2016 NSW Supreme Court ruling, which found the lease arrangement in 2000 between Willoughby City Council and NSTA was invalid due to the public land being used for private business purposes.

While that lease was between the NSTA and council, the association has allowed Love’n Deuce, a private tennis company, to operate on their premises since 1992. 

In his 2016 ruling Justice Brereton said: “The demise of the whole of the Reserve to a private association, whose members have priority rights to use of the Reserve, is plainly not a use for public recreation.”

And so, even though the land was in use, it was not legitimately in use. Six years after this ruling, the Liberal minister Stokes approved the Metropolitan Local Aboriginal Land Council’s claim.

NSTA president Wayne Pascoe told the Lorikeet he contests this judgement, saying the courts are open to members of the club and the public. As for Justice Brereton’s ruling that “members have priority rights”, Pascoe said “anyone can book a court any time”.

Land councils: The purpose of land councils is to “improve, protect and foster the best interests” of Aboriginal people within its area. One of the key services the MLALC provides is the provision of housing for Aboriginal people in Sydney.

The councils are self-funded and manage their own revenue streams. 

The previous rent arrangement for the tennis facility was inherited when the MLALC took ownership of the site in 2022. 

NTSA pays about $950 a week in rent for the site. McMullen called this a “red hot deal”. He wouldn’t reveal how much rent Racquet Club was paying the land council, but said it was “slightly above market rate” and “much more” than the previous rental paid to council.

Precedent: Peter Butt, a professor of law specialising in land and native title, told the Lorikeet disused sports and recreational facilities are typically the site of land claims, due to the fact that they are often on leased Crown land.

He pointed to the examples of Paddington and Waverton bowling clubs: “The club folds, the land is left unused.”

The new tenant, Racquet Club, intends to keep tennis running at the location, but has plans to repurpose two of the tennis courts for pickleball. 

It intends to allow the NSTA to remain on the premises, provided financial terms can be agreed on. Pascoe told the Lorikeet the association was still negotiating with the new tenants, and that meetings had been productive.

The land council has previously put forward plans to redevelop the site into an 18-storey housing development. These plans were rejected by the Housing Delivery Authority in March. 

McMullen wouldn’t comment on the length of the lease, but said it was long enough to justify tipping $500,000 into upgrades, including a new cafe, restaurant and bar, ice baths and a sauna.

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As development across the North Shore increases, the phrase “affordable housing” has become something heard more often; even if you’re not too sure what it really means.

The federal government isn’t too sure, either.

Despite the billions of federal investment into delivering more “affordable” housing across Australia, a precise definition of the phrase — crossing different programs and state borders — has never been provided.

For Bradfield MP Nicolette Boele, that’s something that needs to change.

What happened: In parliament on Monday, Boele introduced a bill calling for a “strict, consistent national definition” that would peg rents on affordable housing units at 30 percent of the household’s pre-tax income.

Boele said current definitions allowed developer’s units to be labelled “affordable” while being fundamentally unaffordable to anyone eligible for the scheme.

What’s in it: The bill calls for governments to ensure the affordability term is “not used unless it complies with this definition, so no one can go around affordable-washing”.

Boele claims this change is “critical to bringing host communities along the journey to absorbing more density in their suburbs and neighbourhoods”.

How does it work: In New South Wales, a developer can build higher and wider than regular planning restrictions would allow if they designate a certain portion of the project toward “affordable housing”.

For a complex of 100 apartments, this could mean 10-15 are subsidised.

How exactly these apartments are subsidised varies. In theory, the rent could be pegged at 30 percent of a tenants income, before tax; however, in practice, they are more often rented out at a market discount of 20–25 percent.

In high-rent areas — St Leonards, Gordon, Killara — this can still be far from affordable in a practical sense.

Boele is calling for a national definition so that housing can not be called “affordable” unless it reaches the benchmark of 30 percent of a household's gross income.

The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare defines rental stress as when a household spends more than 30 percent of income on rent.

What now? The Member for Bradfield has seen engagement from the government on this issue.

Responding to Boele in Question Time last week, Treasurer Jim Chalmers said the government had asked their economic advisors to look into “the different definitions and frameworks that currently operate across Australia, and to see what our options are for more consistency”.

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In Australian politics, pork barrelling isn’t anything new, but this week it's Labor's turn in the spotlight.

With $6 million heading to the Marrickville Golf Club in Anthony Albanese's seat of Grayndler, the media is enjoying the latest news cycle taking aim at the Prime Minister.

Meanwhile, in Victoria, a local council in a marginal Gippsland seat is banking on an election promise to fund a $47 million pool it doesn't have the money for.