Banksia Station Strip On Track for Infill Development

Plans for a new station-side project within a strip of shoptop developments has been filed with the Bayside Council.

The opportunity to build in-fill affordable housing is fueling developments next to Banksia Station, 12km south of the Sydney CBD and west of Brighton Le Sands.

The entity Hattersley Developments, led by James Bellew and John Mouawa, is behind the plans, which are the second go-around for the site.

Fuse Architects designed the two, 10-storey buildings comprising 86 shop-top apartments for 116 Hattersley Street and 345 Princes Highway, Banksia.

The towers would replace aging commercial buildings on the 2536sq m site, amalgamated from two sites, which were purchased in 2015 for $1.3 million and $4.95 million respectively.

The new plans follow a refusal from Bayside Council to build an eight-storey, shoptop development with 57 apartments, which was filed in 2020.

In 2021 the council approved, under deferred commencement, an eight-storey, shoptop boarding house for the site next door at 118 Hattersley Street as well as a similarly scaled project with childcare on the ground floor and 37 apartments above at 126 Hattersley Street. 

However, approval for the 10-storey plans with a capital investment value of $35.7 million may not be as straightforward as it seems.

The council knocked back plans for a 10-storey tower in nearby Arncliffe for being “likely to set an undesirable precedent” for the area.

▲ The 2022 upgraded Banksia Station and the strip of commercial buildings opposite identified as ripe for redevelopment.

The Princes Highway Corridor—Banksia Centre was identified as a planned urban growth area in the Bayside Local Strategic Planning Statement 2036.

“The locality has been identified as an area for urban renewal and it is acknowledged that the locality will be undergoing change over the coming years as it is being redeveloped,” the planning report by Gyde said.

“The proposed development will provide high-medium density residential apartments to be provided in an area with a good level of public transport to employment areas in Sydney CBD, Mascot, and Sydney Airport.”

While this plan from March 2020 by the Bayside Council is in place, the NSW Goverment has its own plans for the region, which were released two years earlier.

The Bayside West Precincts 2036 plans suggested high-density housing and mixed-use opportunities to the east of the train line from Arncliffe to Banksia.