Build approved at Subi’s Mediterranean site
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The former Mediterranean restaurant in Subiaco, once owned by Alan Bond, will be demolished to make way for a five-storey apartment block.
The Metro Inner-North Joint Development Panel members today approved GBW Property’s $8 million proposal to build a five-storey apartment building at the intersection of Nicholson and Rokeby roads, more than a year after it was initially deferred.
Mr Bond owned the restaurant on 414 Rokeby Road in the 1980s and the venue became the go-to Friday lunch spot for prominent businesspeople, including Robert Holmes a Court, Laurie Connell and former Western Australian premier Brian Burke.
The two-storey building became long-time Curtin MP Julie Bishop’s electorate office after renovations in 2012.
In October 2022, the JDAP deferred the matter for 120 days, for the applicant to work on height issues and inconsistencies with the City of Subiaco’s local planning policy.
GBW Property took the matter to the State Administrative Tribunal, under the deemed refusal pathway, in December last year.
After three mediation sessions, the design has been amended with a one-storey reduction to the original plan, reduction in the number of dwellings, reduction in the number of parking bays, increased street setbacks and the addition of a ground floor hole-in-the-wall cafe.
The application proposes seven apartments instead of the original 10.
The revised design still exceeded the three-storey limit under the city’s Rokeby Road South Local Development Plan that was approved by the Western Australian Planning Commission.
City of Subiaco councillors recommended the JDAP refuse the revised application with 13 reasons why.
At the meeting, Subiaco councillor and JDAP member Garry Kosovich said the Rokeby Road South LDP should have the greatest weight in the deliberation.
The city’s planning officer, Anthony Denholm, said the proposal has been considered by the Design Review Panel four times and was supported by city officers despite opposition from council.
“Since DAP considered the proposal in October last year, there has been substantial changes to the design,” he said at the meeting.
“The current building is surrounded by fencing. This is an improvement to the existing situation.”
Panel members voted to approve the revised application three votes to two, with Subiaco councillors objecting.
“I feel very positive with the outcome with what we’ve got in this current plan,” acting JDAP presiding member Lee O’Donohue said.
According to RP data, the 748 square metre site was acquired by GBW Property for $2.5 million in 2020.
Australian Securities and Investments Commission documents show GBW Property directors as Nader El Sayed, Alexander Hewlett and Edwin Pope.