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Phillip Wolanski and Allen Linz are to chair the development committee for Sydney’s Hakoah Club.

The club has issued the following statement:

“At and just prior to the AGM, Frank and Steven Lowy committed to assist in bolstering the development and commercial skills, resources and expertise of Hakoah’s development committee from within the community to increase our prospects of achieving the realisation of the Board’s plans for unique sporting, recreational, social and cultural facilities at White City.

As a result, and after many meetings since, the Board of Hakoah is delighted to announce that Phillip Wolanski, Allen Linz, Elliott Rusanow and Roy Gruenpeter have agreed to join the committee and that Messrs Wolanski and Linz have agreed to co-chair it.This is a significant milestone in the development process.

Phillip Wolanski, a long term Hakoah member and a previous Vice President, is well known in the community and has over 35 years experience in the property industry including residential, commercial, retail, hotel and industrial development and investment. He was made a member of the Order of Australia in 2008 for his philanthropic contributions to arts, sporting and cultural organisations and is on the board of Football Federation Australia.  He is currently a member of the JCA Allocations Committee and a Trustee of the Sydney Opera House.

Allen Linz is also well known in the community and has nearly 20 years experience in the property industry as a property developer and investor. He has been involved in many high profile, complicated projects and is currently developing the former Swiss Grand Hotel site at Bondi. He was a board member of Jewish Care for over 10 years and was the director responsible for the planning and construction of the Jewish Care building in Bondi Junction.

It is a coup for Hakoah that these two gentlemen have agreed to bring their extensive knowledge and property development experience to co-chairing the committee.

They issued a joint statement stating that “White City provides a once in a lifetime opportunity to design and build a world class facility for both our community and the wider eastern suburbs community. It’s a privilege to co-chair the Hakoah development committee and be involved in this exciting venture. Some amazing work has been done by the Board and the team to date and it’s now a matter of refining some of the details with a view to lodging a DA with Council in the very near future”.

Elliott Rusanow is the Chief Financial Officer of Westfield Corporation.  He has been at Westfield for over 16 years and held a number of senior corporate finance positions in Australia and the UK.  He brings a wealth of financial expertise and experience to the committee.

Roy Gruenpeter is currently General Manager of Development at Scentre Group responsible for the development and asset management of a portfolio of shopping centres in Australia. With over 16 years experience in the property industry, Roy has performed various roles within the centre management, leasing, development and asset management divisions of Westfield Group.  During this time, Roy formulated and delivered a number of large-scale developments including the $200 million Westfield Geelong redevelopment.

The development of White City is a very complex project involving development, planning, financial and communal considerations and having to traverse a number of formal Council processes, requiring immense skill and patience.

The Board is confident, with the above expertise now on board, that the prospects of achieving a successful outcome have been significantly enhanced, so that the benefits of this unique site can be available to the whole community.