A public-private consortium is planning a 109-apartment build-to-rent project north of the Perth CBD.
The development is a collaboration between the WA Department of Communities, Tetris Capital and tier-1 community housing provider Community Housing Ltd and will revitalise an “eyesore” former public housing site at Stirling, 10km from the city centre.
The consortium has applied to the City of Vincent Council to develop a social and affordable build-to-rent housing project, which would also receive funding support from the Federal Government.
The 4962 sq m site is owned by the State Housing Commission, which has made the site available through a 50-year ground lease. It is ostensibly the first project in the state to use such a lease.
As such, the development is considered public works and requires the approval of the Western Australian Planning Commission.
“Considerable” masterplanning has been undertaken, according to the development application, with design review processes by the State Design Review Panel alongside the Government Architect of Western Australia.
Element Advisory put together the application for the site at 49-67 Smith Street, Highgate. The design is by Architectus and and the project has an estimated cost of $65 million.
Of the 109 units, 78 will be social housing with 22 units as affordable and nine as specialist disability accommodation. The apartments will be a mix of one and two bedrooms.
There will also be a communal rooftop edible garden, a residents’ lounge, a public-access courtyard with a library, and parking for 62 cars.
The Smith Street build-to-rent project is one of several “major legacy housing redevelopment projects” that aim to deliver a new urban community near public transport and amenities.
The project will be staged, with a demolition permit already issued for the site, followed by the current development application.
It is a “response to the current heated construction market and private rental shortage that will deliver more affordable housing options to Western Australians” the application said, and will “provide a significant boost to the State’s social and affordable housing supply”.
It also aligns with the city’s focus on medium and high-density development within this area of Highgate.
In the early 1970s, the WA Government built the 12-storey Stirling Towers to provide public housing in the area. A further three-storey block of 12 units was built adjacent to the original tower in 1999.
Stirling Towers was in use until 2015 when, after many years of drug and vandalism issues, the Department of Housing relocated the last tenants and evicted the squatters.
Perth has caught build-to-rent fever along with the rest of Australia this year, with projects filed for a DevelopmentWA 29-storey project in the inner city, as well as timber build-to-rent project from Bluerock Projects at Midland.
