Claremont development finally gets the go-ahead

The Claremont City Council has given developers Hawaiian and Multiplex the green light for a $340 million, seven-storey residential and retail development along St Quentin Avenue in Claremont, almost a decade after the developers bought the site. 

A design advisory committee had recommended the imposition of a six-storey limit for the proposed residential component, but council voted 6:4 in favour of seven storeys.

The plan was the fourth application submitted to council since Hawaiian acquired the land in 1997 and its approval comes despite an unfavourable review of the proposal by a design advisory committee made up of voluntary architects, planners and engineers.

The committee claimed public access from car parks to public streets and spaces would be limited, which it said would affect village street life and existing businesses’ viability. Traffic problems, lack of parking and poor amenity were other committee concerns.

Hawaiian general manager property development, Stuart Duplock, disagreed with the committee’s findings and said the developer had put a lot of effort into addressing all the points of contention, including a plan for 1,500 car bays.

Hawaiian was satisfied, he said, that the plan was beneficial to the community and included active street frontages and prime retail space.

“It has cost us a lot of money when you consider the hundreds of thousands of dollars it costs us per development application. Our asset has also been underperforming over a long period of time, as vacant land does not produce any rent,” Mr Duplock said.

He said the council and community had also missed out during the approval delay, as the $340 million development would have generated significant rates revenue for council and could have been a major retail draw card for the community.

City of Claremont councillor Clem Edwards voted against the plan and said the development was totally out of scale and character for the area.

“I rather like the design but it’s the equivalent of nine storeys and does not comply with administrative rules,” he said. “Council has basically overridden administration and given the developers carte blanche.”

A recent survey commissioned by the Property Council of Australia found that 62.3 per cent of respondents in WA would support a new property development application system whereby applications would be assessed separately by an independent panel, based on rules and development guidelines set by council.

In all, there were 1,114 respondents to the survey Australia-wide.