 Despite, or perhaps because of Madigan's advice that the Granites would be uneconomical to mine Rieff pegged many leases there that he then travelled to Adelaide to sell them.Following his time at the Granites Rieff, and his family, moved into Alice Springs, where they built a large home on Hartley Street that was unusually large for its time.While in Alice Springs he purchased and developed many commercial buildings including the Rieff Building which was demolished to make way for the Yeperenye Shopping Centre.