Court Win Hands Abadeen Approval for Mosman Shoptop

A luxury 28-apartment shoptop development goes to market in Mosman this week after winning an order by the Land and Environment Court of New South Wales allowing construction to begin.

Sydney-based Abadeen Group—with $3.5 billion in projects behind it—now has development approval for the eight-storey project on Spit Road, Mosman, along the NSW capital’s affluent lower north shore.

The $22-million development, including four residential floors and three basement parking levels, will rise above four lots of a combined 1427 square metres.

The largely vacant lots were once home to the Mosman Greater Union Cinema, which was acquired by the NSW Department of Transport in 2017 to support construction and operational work on the B-line bus route. The cinema was demolished shortly after.

Publicly available documents show Abadeen paid $35.8 million for the site in July 2021 and settled 12 months later.

The site, on the corner of Spit Road and Clifford Street, is part of the Spit Junction business centre, which boasts more than 150 shops.

Abadeen’s plans call for a single one-bedroom, 12 two-bedroom and 14 three-bedroom apartments, with basement parking for 98 vehicles. That upper basement level will including public parking for 30 cars, which will be transferred to Mosman Municipal Council for their management and operation.

▲ The PBD Architects-designed building has a communal landscaped roof garden and about 270sq m of retail space at street level.

The PBD Architects-designed building has a communal landscaped roof garden.

About 270sq m will be given over to retail space on the street level.

Lift overruns for the building take the maximum height to 17.46m—higher than the 15m allowed for the area’s B2 local centre zone.

In an application for a Clause 4.6 Review, town planners Longitude Planning said there would be no purpose served by requiring strict compliance with the numerical height standard.

“This proposal for a shop top housing development is an appropriate height, form and design for a development in this location comprising a large retail use on the ground floor at street level and 32 apartments and associated parking, including public parking for 30 cars in the upper basement Level One,” Longitude wrote in the original development application, lodged in November last year.

But more than 60 submissions were made to the council during a public exhibition, many of them concerning the height of the building and traffic flow.

Hearings were held in June and July this year, and in September the Land and Environment Court ruled the written request seeking a variation to the height standard be upheld.

Abadeen’s head of marketing Katie Rea said a sales campaign for the project would begin this week.

One-bedroom apartments would start from $1.3 million, two-bedrooms from $1.95 million and three-bedrooms from $2.9 million.

The Abadeen Group was founded by managing director Justin Brown in 2009.

Mosman remains one of Sydney’s most sought-after locations with a steady string of developments being put forward for the suburb.

In October, Winim Developments has lodged plans for a five-storey residential block designed by Rothelowman Architects for a 809.3sq m site at 87 and 87A Cowles Road. 

And in August, Sydney developer-builder Helm Properties filed a $26-million proposal to build a three-storey apartment complex overlooking Mosman Village Green.

The proposal before Mosman Municipal Council proposes the amalgamation of six lots on Myahgah Road to create a site of 2590 square metres.