[+] Developers Circle as Health Hub Plans Crystallise

Blacktown council is confident developer interest is ramping up as it presses ahead with its vision for a health and education hub, including a $500-million private hospital. They are also eager for vocational education and training provider TAFE NSW to remain as a key part of the precinct, Blacktown director of transformation Bill Tsakalos says. “If you’re TAFE, you are going to be thinking, there is a health precinct developing here, I teach vocational courses, what can I do to respond to it and benefit from it,” Tsakalos said. Some land owners and developers had already approached council about the area, he says. “They clearly see it as an opportunity.” Blacktown council has now submitted a proposal to the NSW planning department for the hub on the edge of the city, about 35km from the Sydney CBD. Under the proposal, which has been under discussion for about four years, the council wants a private hospital built on about 20ha of land between Blacktown Public Hospital and the city centre. The development would also include specialist medical practices, consulting rooms, assisted living and aged care, as well as peripheral development such as carparking, high-density residential and retail. The plan came to light after Blacktown submitted zoning law amendments to the NSW government, calling for a variety of changes to higher density, increased height and mixed-use, with a focus on “health services facility and educational establishments”. ▲ A render of part of the proposed health and education precinct in Blacktown. In certain cases there will be a new “bonus height of up to 44 metres”, which the council says will be subject to a design competition. Tsakalos, says the city has spent nearly $1.5 million getting the proposal to this point. It first commissioned a study testing the viability of a private hospital, effectively next door to the public facility. “We were interested in understanding whether there was any motivation for a private hospital to be located here,” Tsakalos says. “The consultants came back within a year with a resounding, yes, there is demand, particularly in western Sydney for a private hospital because of the specialisations it attracts.” That was followed by an 18-month urban design exercise that looked at planning controls, zoned use, road patterns and height restrictions. The precinct is generally bounded by the western railway line to the north, Sunnyholt and Newton roads to the west, Griffiths Street, Marcel Crescent and Blacktown Hospital to the east, and Bungarribee Road to the south. Tsakalos says the second phase of the proposal is centred on infrastructure. “We have to make the precinct suitable. There is a need to invest in things like the width of streets, the amenity of those streets—lighting, tree-planting, footpaths, things like that—to make it appropriate for the issues this type of development will present,” Tsakalos says. ▲ The council is confident investor interest in the hub will be high. At least 22 properties, mostly single dwellings, will be acquired by the council to allow changes to road connectivity and increased stormwater drainage and public open space. Tsakalos said most of those acquisitions would be weatherboard houses being used for consulting offices. The city is in discussions with the vocational education and training provider TAFE NSW, which has a campus on the land Blacktown wants to develop, delivering courses to about 7000 students. They are anxious the education facility remains part of the proposal. “TAFE has a big foothold in that precinct,” Tsakalos says. “We obviously want them to remain there and we want them to respond to our plan in the context of managing their offerings, so they are in line with the needs of the community." The city won’t be drawn on exact costs of development but says it expected the private hospital and associated consulting rooms to costs at least $500 million. Tsakalos says looking for private investment would be the third phase of the plan. “We don’t build these kinds of buildings,” he says. “These are private land parcels that are owned by members of the public and they are the ones that we will sell to a developer to come in and build.” Blacktown is one of the fastest growing municipalities in Australia with the NSW government forecasting the population to increase by about 264,100 people, reaching 612,150 by 2041. The government has invested $700 million into an expansion of the Blacktown public hospital to prepare for such a change. Stage one and two have been completed. You are currently experiencing The Urban Developer Plus (TUD+), our premium membership for property professionals. Click here to learn more.

[+] Developers Circle as Health Hub Plans Crystallise

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