ApartmentsVanessa CrollSun 17 May 26
Luxcon Wins SEARS for $79m Limit-Pushing Manly Plan
A project on Sydney’s Northern Beaches could rise to almost three times the site’s local height limit under Luxcon Group’s $79-million housing plan.
The Double Bay developer has received Secretary’s Environmental Assessment Requirements (SEARs) for 10-12 Victoria Parade at Manly, where two 1960s brick apartment blocks between Manly Beach and Manly Wharf would be cleared for a nine-storey building.
Luxcon is proposing 23 apartments, five of them affordable, on a two-lot site immediately south of Manly’s town centre edge.
Its estimated development cost pushes the in-fill affordable housing proposal above the $75-million State Significant Development (SSD) threshold for the Eastern Harbour City, shifting it into the NSW major-projects system before a development application has been lodged.
Luxcon has proposed a 28.6m building on a site where local controls allow 11 metres.
The extra height comes in two steps. First, the site’s position within 400m of Manly Town Centre brings NSW Low and Mid-Rise (LMR) Housing rules into play, lifting the height limit to 22 metres.
Second, five affordable apartments unlock a further 30 per cent in-fill affordable housing bonus.
Together, those policies take the possible height to Luxcon’s proposed 28.6m and allow almost four times the floor space permitted under Manly’s local controls.
The affordable apartments would make up 15 per cent of the project and remain affordable for at least 15 years.
Plans by PBD Architects show four two-bedroom apartments and 19 three-bedroom apartments across 3637sq m of gross floor area, above two basement levels with about 46 car spaces.
The scheme would also include communal open space, a swimming pool, landscaping and deep soil planting on the 1272sq m site, which has a 27m frontage to Victoria Parade.
Bergelin Property’s listing for 12 Victoria Parade described a three-storey freehold block of 17 apartments, offered for the first time in more than 60 years before its February 2026 sale.
Belle Property Commercial’s listing for 10 Victoria Parade, known as Gowrie, described another 17-apartment block on 635sq m, with annual income of $523,927.
Together, the listings point to 34 older apartments being replaced by 23 larger units, including five affordable apartments, in one of Sydney’s tightest beachside markets.
Manly Wharf is central to Luxcon’s planning case. The SEARs request says the Manly-Circular Quay ferry corridor would carry more than 200 one-way services on weekdays, with the proponent arguing major ferry interchanges share the same housing logic as rail and metro nodes.
The wharf precinct is also moving through its own commercial reset.
Artemus Group bought the Manly Wharf long-term leasehold and wharf hotel for $110 million in 2023, adding the Sydney harbour asset to a waterfront portfolio led by Brisbane’s Howard Smith Wharves.
The latest step in the wharf reset is a $4.5-million council application to recast the central retail arcade as a more hospitality-focused ferry gateway, with food and drink uses, a skylight and more passenger seating.
The application was exhibited from January 14 to February 11.
Luxcon’s site is inside the Manly Town Centre Heritage Conservation Area, although the existing blocks are not heritage listed.
The heritage setting also includes Norfolk Island Pines along Victoria Parade, with two trees directly in front of the site.
Below ground, the land is in a flood planning area and mapped with Class 4 acid sulfate soils, with two basement levels expected to trigger further soil and water assessment.
Luxcon must now prepare an environmental impact statement covering design, traffic, flooding, heritage, groundwater, contamination, trees, social impact and affordable housing management.
The SEARs are valid for two years.
