North Terrace tower approvals quashed following appeal by Adelaide’s ‘carpark king’ Damian Lester
An Adelaide carpark baron has won a Supreme Court challenge against the approval of a $200m plan to build twin apartment towers on a prominent CBD site.
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Adelaide carpark baron Damian Lester has successfully challenged the construction of a $200m twin apartment towers next to the Newmarket Hotel.
The Supreme Court today quashed the state planning commission’s 2016 approval of the proposed development on the corner of West Terrace and North Terrace, which was to involve the partial demolition of the state heritage-listed Newmarket, construction of a three-storey hotel and two 24-storey buildings containing 400 apartments replacing the former HQ nightclub.
Mr Lester, director of the Park Fast chain and owner of land next to the Newmarket proposal, had sought a judicial review of the approval arguing the rival project was a non-complying development, was not set back far enough from neighbours and that the commission had erred in its handling of the application.
Supreme Court Justice Greg Parker dismissed most of Mr Lester’s complaints but still quashed the approval, finding that “on the balance of probabilities” the commission had failed to consider appropriate set-backs for the development.
Justice Parker said the commission had incorporated into its decision documents that were “inconsistent, and in some instances wrong, as to the position of the (project’s) eastern boundary”.
“I find that (the commission) failed to have regard to the set-back requirement … as it was misled as to the position of the eastern boundary of the subject land,” he said.
He said that he was satisfied on the “balance of probabilities” that the errors in the information provided to the planning commission by the project’s architect and DPTI had resulted in the commission “failing to take into account a relevant consideration” on set-backs.
The decision will likely mean that developers One North Terrace Pty Ltd will have to submit a revised application to the planning commission.
Mr Lester’s case was heard over a five-day trial in September 2017 but judgment had been delayed pending settlement negotiations between Mr Lester and One North Terrace Pty Ltd which broke down in August last year, according to Justice Parker’s judgment.
Mr Lester has planning approval for a nine-storey carpark and a 16-storey hotel on either side of the Newmarket site.
In 2013 he had unveiled ambitious plans for a $150m office and hotel development on his North Terrace and West Terrace properties.