Balmain Tigers to return to Rozelle in $135 million redevelopment
THE Balmain Tigers will return to their spiritual home under a $135 million proposal to redevelop its dilapidated former club at Rozelle.
Inner West
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THE Balmain Tigers will return to their spiritual home under a $135 million proposal to redevelop its dilapidated former club at Rozelle.
Heworth Development lodged a development application last Tuesday to transform the vandalised ruin on Victoria Rd into 173 apartments, shops and a new 2,200sq m club for the Tigers fronting a public square.
Heworth’s managing director Brian Hood said they were concentrating the development’s “mass” around Victoria Rd, where the height of three residential towers had been reduced by one level to between 11 and 12 storeys.
There would be a maximum of three storeys on Waterloo St.
Other key features include “Melbourne-style” laneways, increased commercial space and about 4,500sq m of retail space including a supermarket.
Heworth has come to an agreement with Inner West Council to reopen the 34-space carpark on Waterloo St — hopefully by the end of this month — to help local businesses who suffered when it was closed by a previous owner.
Inner West Mayor Darcy Byrne lobbied for several years to get the carpark reopened and Balmain Greens MP Jamie Parker recently called on Heworth to reopen it as a “show of goodwill”.
The carpark would stay open until construction starts on the development, which would provide two hours free public parking for 126 cars.
Mr Parker said he was still concerned about the “bulk and scale” of the proposal but was open to working with Heworth to ensure a positive outcome for the community, who “don’t want to wait another ten years watching this site become more and more derelict.”
Mr Hood said they were “working within” existing planning controls and had made several changes to the design in response to community feedback.
This included slashing the amount of retail by more than half of what is allowed to reduce traffic impacts and aiming for speciality retail with more of a food and beverage focus, rather than competing with retailers on Darling St.
A “centrepiece” of the project was a “family friendly” Balmain Leagues Club containing cafes and restaurants with the number of poker machines to be reduced and pushed to the back of the venue.
Heworth hopes to start construction by the middle of next year and the project would take about three years to finish “if all goes to plan”.
Mr Hood said he would seek a meeting with Roads and Maritime Services after the agency flagged plans to compulsorily acquire the site as a construction zone for the Western Harbour Tunnel.
“We have received a notice from them that they’re looking to acquire it but we need to remember ten years ago the club got kicked out for a compulsory acquisition that didn’t go ahead,” he said.
An RMS spokesman said no decision had been made and the State Government had committed to providing further details to the community in mid-2018.
“It is prudent to explore vacant or abandoned property to minimise impacts and disruption to local communities when considering major projects,” he said.
