An assessment panel has greenlit a $35 million plan for apartments in a coastal suburb, after QS Developments scrapped the previously approved project on the site.
An assessment panel has greenlit a $35 million plan for apartments in a coastal suburb, after QS Developments scrapped the previously approved project on the site.
QS Developments proposed a nine-storey apartment building comprising 67 dwellings and communal amenities and recreation spaces at 24-26 Brighton Road in Scarborough.
The Metro Inner North Development Assessment Panel unanimously approved the application at its meeting on Wednesday.
The plan, estimated to cost $35 million, is a redesign of QS Developments’ Sirius Residences project which DevelopmentWA approved in 2023.
QS previously earmarked the site, and the adjoining 22 Brighton Road lot, for a mixed-use development of 18-storey and five-storey buildings, and a 12-storey hotel.
The project was expected to add 102 apartments and 70 serviced apartments to the area.
The City of Stirling recommended the updated design be approved subject to conditions, including a minimum affordable housing quota.
However, QS Developments said the affordable housing requirement should be removed amid the current market conditions.
Armando Rossi, on behalf of QS, said a mandated affordability portion was complicated and convoluted with the redesigned project, a smaller build compared to the mixed-use plan in 2022.
“We’re trying to embrace the affordability but [it’s difficult] where the market is at the moment with construction price in the order of $740,000 a dwelling to then try to create an affordable product by discounting and dropping price and trying to find an operator that takes on the financial modelling for themselves to put the client in that project,” he said at the meeting.
“I’ve had this conversation with a number of accommodation providers who are finding it easier to put their clients or their participants in different locations where it’s more financially appropriate for them.
“It’s a sledgehammer trying to deliver what is a nuanced outcome.”
The proposed apartment mix for the 67 dwellings in the Scarborough project comprises 15 single bedrooms, 30 two-bed rooms, and 22 three-bed rooms.
At the meeting, City of Stirling councillor and DAP member Suzanne Migdale’s proposal to remove the affordability housing condition was backed by her fellow panel members.
Ms Migdale said there was an extreme shortage of one-bedroom apartments on top of a massive housing crisis in the state.
“There is a massive shortage in these homes which may well appeal to first home buyers and across the entire market including downsizers locally as well,” she said.
“I don’t think we should have the developer punching in the dark with one hand tied behind their back.
“Fair play to them that they need to ensure this project is viable and I respect that.”
DAP deputy presiding member Dale Page said there was a nexus for the affordability housing requirement with the previously approved, and larger, plan in 2022.
However, she questioned whether the connection remained with the updated design.
“The proposed single bedroom units will provide some level of relative affordability,” she said at the meeting.
QS’s development application, compiled by Urbanista Town Planning, said the proposed apartment building was much less intense compared to the previously approved design.
Sirius Residences was expected to be completed by December 2024, according to QS Developments’ website.
