This article is from the Australian Property Journal archive
HARRY Triguboff has had plans for a Little Bay development with 1,900 apartments knocked back for a third time, but the Meriton billionaire told media “it’s a sure bet” the project will eventually be approved.
The application this time around was submitted as one of 100 for a pilot scheme for a NSW Planning Department fast-track system established by the previous Perrottet government for bigger housing projects.
Only five of the 100 were approved.
Meriton bought Little Bay site on Anzac Parade site in 2017 for $245 million from Malaysia’s TA Global and went on to lodge a proposal for 1,900 apartments across buildings rising up to 22 storeys. It reduced that to 17 storeys, but Council rejected the proposal as a “massive overdevelopment”.
Meriton sought a rezoning review through a state-appointed regional planning panel, but that also rejected plans on grounds of its size and character.
Speaking after the latest refusal, Triguboff told The Sydney Morning Herald that “it’s a matter of time” before his project is approved.
“They knocked back everybody else [too],” he told the publication.
“I don’t take it personally…I know that I’ll get it anyway. I can’t tell you when. It’s a sure bet. It will be approved.”
He also said that senior departmental staff had told him “it’s a political case, it’s not a planning case”.
“They more or less admit that my planning case is very strong. I can’t affect the political position. But that will take care of itself. They need what I want, and they need it very badly, so I’ll get it.”
Just two proposals in this round were metropolitan Sydney projects, according to The Sydney Morning Herald – a 1,600 to 1,800 unit project on Railway Terrace in Schofields, and a 1,585-apartment project in western Sydney’s Glenmore Park.
The other three projects approved were a 500-unit project in Wagga Wagga, a 1,118-home development in Wollongong’s Warrawong, and an 800-home project in Kanwal on the Central Coast.
The proponents of the successful project are now required to submit a planning proposal by 14th September.
