The brewer,
Foster’s, has sold the Broadway site to a Singapore-based property group for
$208 million.
The new
owner, Frasers Property, say it has already received approval from the New
South Wales Government for a mixed residential, retail and entertainment
development.
But David Pocklington, from the Chippendale Residents
Interest Group, says residents are worried about the proposed development.
“We’re
certainly happy to see development on the site, but no talk of design
excellence or high environmental standards or all the other guff we’re going to
hear from the developer will hide the fact that what has been allowed on this
site and is proposed by [the Planning] Minister Frank
Sartor, is a gross overdevelopment of the site,” he
said.
Council
hoping for consultation
Sydney City
Council is hoping to reassert some influence over the development of the site.
Councillor John McInerney
says he hopes the developer will re-establish dialogue with the council, which
lost control of the site to the Planning Minister Frank
Sartor.
“Hopefully
we could see a developer who comes to the Central Sydney Planning Committee or
to council. Both are at one on this issue,” he said.
“[Hopefully
the developer] comes to those bodies, and says we’d like a rethink, in the
context of a better design, for both the site itself and its relationship with
the people of Chippendale.”
What about
climate change?
The Greens
Councillor, Chris Harris, says the
State Government has missed an opportunity to address climate change in the
design of the redevelopment.
“We’re
having 2,300 cars imported into a five-hectare site where there are currently
none,” he said.
“It’s
[the development] is going to use a billion litres of water from the dam.”
“There
was no attempt to collect water and recycle water on the site. Sewage would be
pumped into the ocean, no attempt to treat sewage, [or] deal with its own
sewage”.