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Two seperate shoptop projects in beachside Sydney suburbs have been approved on appeal in the NSW Land and Environment Court.
Clutch Developments has been greenlit for its plans at 135-139 Curlewis Street in the sought-after Sydney suburb Bondi Beach, which is acquired in 2023 for $16 million.
It filed plans for a four-storey housing project delivering three build-to-rent apartments with retail on the ground floor in December of that year. It was rejected by the Waverley Council in February of this year.
Clutch had already been to court over an adjoining site, winning approval for it in September, 2023.
That proposal was for its site at 141-155 Curlewis Street comprising 15 three-bedroom apartments with private balconies and terraces.
The latest court case covers both projects—the initial rejection of the 135-139 Curlewis Street project, and also the rejection of modifications to the earlier proposals, which included a connection to the new site, reconfiguration of parking, services and amenities, and other minor amends.
A conciliation conference was undertaken and amended waste management, landscape and traffic reports were submitted and architectural plans reconfigured to appease council complaints.
The court this month accepted the compromises made in the conferences and upheld Clutch’s appeal, allowing both the modifications to the earlier Curlewis Street project and the new project.
Further north, Asia Digital Investments, a vehicle of tech rich-lister Robin Khuda, has been approved by the court for its shoptop housing development at 1102 Barrenjoey Road, Palm Beach.
Plans for the site on the Northern Beaches, a well-known former fish and chip shop, comprised a three-storey block with five apartments of between two and four bedrooms.
The developer had originally filed its application in April, 2022—the Northern Beaches Council refused it in 2023.
Asia Digital amended its development application on a number of occasions, the two most recent being in July and on the first day of the hearing of the appeal in October.
The council however had refused the application based on height exceedance of that stipulated in the Pittwater Local Environmental Plan 2014 which Asia Digital argued was necessary due to the topography of the site, and concerns over its impact on a local heritage-listed landmark, Barrenjoey House.
The cases were the latest in a long list of projects that have gone before the court this year, including Winim’s historic hotel development and Toohey Miller’s Elizabeth Bay apartment proposals.
