Student accommodation developer Scape Australia has settled on the third site acquisition at Kensington for $70m.
The 2,419sqm site was previously held by Toga group who in 2016 had proposed a 25 storey residential building containing approximately 231 apartments and 3 basement levels of car parking.
Toga's application required an LEP amendment to increase building height to 85m (from 25m) and increase the FSR to 7:1 however Randwick Council did not support the application but the process instigated an LEP review.
The Council's LEP review did identify part of the site amongst others as an "opportunity site" for further development and placed an amending plan on exhibition in late 2019. The revised LEP would permit development up to 54m and an FSR of 5:1, not as great as Toga had hoped for but much better than existing controls.
As support for the rezoning was gaining, Toga completed a deal with Scape to acquire the site. Scape ultimately exchanged contracts to acquire the site in October 2019 and settled the site on the 2nd July 2020. Scape had hoped to secure Council's support to have the whole of the site included in the revised LEP controls, however Council did not support their application.
The site adds to Scapes two other Kensington sites, all located at the junction of Todman Avenue and Anzac Parade, near to New South Wales University and the new light rail station.
In June this year, the developer lodged plans for the site diagonally opposite at 182 Anzac Parade, with plans for a 19 storey mixed-use development comprising basement / ground / first floor commercial, a student accommodation facilities comprising 381 boarding rooms.
A development application for the third site at 172 Anzac Parade, known as Scape Greek has not yet been submitted.
The new site was contracted before COVID19 and with the lack of international students, there is some doubt that the project will proceed.
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