Bondi Junction Shoptop Tower Wins Approval

Developer Clygen is moving ahead with its 19-storey Bondi Junction tower after a series of modifications.

The mixed-use tower on a 1281sq m site at 59 to 75 Grafton Street, 6km east of the Sydney CBD, will be a mixed-use shoptop building.

It will deliver 63 apartments, with a gym on Level 4 and a communal open space on the rooftop.

Originally approved in 2019 by the Sydney Eastern City Planning Panel, the development has gone through a series of amendments. 

A previous tranche of modifications, which would have added two additional residential levels and seven new apartments, was refused by the Sydney Eastern City Planning Panel in 2021. 

However, the latest modifications—including a reduction from 78 to 63 units, and a 14 per cent increase in gross floor area and floor space ratio—have been greenlit.

Also under the approved changes, the podium roof communal open space was moved from the north-west corner facing Grafton Street to the south-eastern corner facing Hegarty Lane, while a gym and outdoor space are now planned for that area.

The aim of the amendments was to “to improve and refine the quality and amenity of the development by reducing the overall number and increasing the size of apartments and enhancing the external appearance of the building,” according to Clygen.

“The sculpted building form of Grafton 59 is a response to the panoramic harbour views for the occupants and their neighbours,” Smart Design Studio, which designed the tower, said.

“On the southern side, it is split into two slender parallel forms flanking a central corridor. 

“Apart from enabling natural light and ventilation into the corridor, this arrangement breaks down the tower mass on the narrow lane frontage.” 

The site is currently occupied by a nine-storey office building, which will be demolished to make way for the development.

Residential developments have faced difficulties in Bondi with residents fighting the current application as well as other sites on the same road, including a $60-million Bondi Junction tower down the road at 47-55 Grafton Street, which was lodged in 2018.