Developer Lodges Apartment Plans by the Bay

Plans for a mid-rise apartment block in beachside Brighton-Le-Sands in southern Sydney have been filed with Bayside Council. 

The 130-apartment development is planned for a corner site at the north end of the suburb’s commercial centre and main retail strip, Bay Street.

The 4000sq m amalgamated site at 271-275 Bay Street was picked up for a combined $11 million and is made up of four properties—three ageing low-format retail buildings and a petrol station.

The $30-million-plus development has been put forward by Vanis Holdings Pty Ltd, an entity headed up by 82-year-old Greek businessman Panagoitis Magiros.

The 15,500sq m development, designed by Surry Hills-based architecture firm Studio Johnson, will be built alongside, and connected to, an existing nine-storey apartment complex, Brighton Shores, on the western side of the site.

The two buildings are proposed to be connected via the carpark and communal open spaces sharing plant, facilities and egress.

The project will form a continuation of the Brighton-Le-Sands retail precinct, on the west side of Bay Street, offering three new ground-floor retail premises. 

If realised, the 13-storey development will be the second-tallest building in the precinct after the Novotel Brighton-Le-Sands on the corner of Grand Parade and Princess Street. 

▲ The site in Brighton-Le-Sands is located on Bay Street between Crawford Road and Queens Road. Image: Nearmap

The development will be targeted at the local owner-occupier market with apartments ranging from 50sq m one-bedroom configurations to 95sq m three bedrooms, with the majority 75sq m two-bedroom apartments. 

Apartments will boast views to North Sydney’s CBD, Brighton-Le-Sands beach and east to Botany Bay as well as Kurnell to the south and Blue Mountains to the west.

It will sit atop three levels of basement parking levels to ensure the project would have minimal, if any, impact on locals and on-street parking, the developer said.

A central communal garden space at podium level is also planned to “promote social interaction” as well as provide a green buffer between the adjoining residential flat building and the new apartments.

“The proposal develops a modern contemporary aesthetic that builds on the aspirations of urban coastal living,” Studio Johnson’s design report stated.

“[It] will have a positive impact on the community by upgrading the existing site and providing well-designed buildings that compliment the surrounding local context [and] its layout ensures the building can cater for a large range of affordable options and equitable access for the residents and users.”

▲ The new podium communal garden also connects to the existing podium of the neighbouring nine-storey building. Image: Studio Johnston

Brighton-Le-Sands was one of Sydney’s suburbs that benefited from the accelerated trend of sea and tree-change over the past two years, with house prices surging 13 per cent in the past 12 months alone.

Dubbed “Little Greece by the Bay” for the many Greek businesses in the area, Brighton-Le-Sands combines the sophistication of the Mediterranean with a laid-back suburban sensibility.

Sydney’s longest beach, Lady Robinsons Beach, forms the suburb’s eastern boundary and was a key driver for settlement in the late 1800s and early 1900s.

Across the road from the Novotel, construction has recently begun on Brighton-Le-Sands’ newest beachfront development, Seychelles. 

The site is well-known to locals and is home to five historic terraces built in the late 1880s.

Developers Abadeen and JDH Capital will restore and upgrade the terraces as part of the project, which will also include 31 high-end apartments built behind.

A typical apartment is now selling for $715,000 while strong demand in the rental market has also meant that median rents have lifted by more than 16 per cent across that period in Brighton-le-Sands.