State Government steps in to purchase harbourside property
North Shore MP Felicity Wilson announced today the state government has started negotiations to buy a controversial harbourside property earmarked for a $3.5 million development.
A controversial property with one of the best views of Sydney Harbour Bridge is set to be bought by the State Government.
No. 1 Henry Lawson Ave sits in the middle of a reserve at McMahons Point and is the subject of a long-running battle to renovate it into a luxurious waterfront home.
The community put up a fight as it wanted the old building removed to create a continuous foreshore in the tourist hotspot.
North Shore MP Felicity Wilson announced today the government has commenced negotiations to acquire the site.
“I’ve been working within government to purchase this site for an expanded park for our community since early 2017 and am excited to have secured it,” Ms Wilson said.
“I thank the residents of Lavender Bay for bringing this to me and supporting the government’s efforts to secure this site.”
A statement said the Department of Planning and Environment’s Office of Strategic Lands will lead the negotiations to acquire the property to bring it into public ownership.
The announcement was welcomed by local residents.
“The community would be very pleased with that news. It’s something the community has been pushing for a number of years,” Lavender Bay precinct secretary Bernard Smith said.
IN OTHER NEWS
The owners of the former boatshed in the middle of Henry Lawson Reserve recently lodged a $3.5 million development application with North Sydney Council.
David Wilkenfeld, also known as David Fox, and Jozette Hazzouri wanted to demolish the old shed to create a new building with a home and a boat building facility.
Mr Wilkenfeld runs dance supplies business Bloch International and has been trying to have plans to develop the site approved by council since 2010.
Neighbours, the council and the Land and Environment Court have refused these plans.
Mr Wilkenfeld is understood to have bought the site ten years ago for $750,000.
The surrounding park attracts thousands of people to watch the New Year’s Eve fireworks and bus loads of tourists throughout the year for photographs.
The building has an apparent link to the grisly Shark Arm Murder mystery of the 1930s.
It was once owned by wealthy boatbuilder Reginald Holmes, who employed small-time criminal James Smith.
Smith’s arm was spat out by a shark at a Coogee aquarium on Anzac Day in 1935 and Holmes was implicated in the resulting murder investigation, which centred on Patrick Brady, another criminal known to both men.
Holmes initially denied he knew Brady but, before police could question him he tried to shoot himself.
Holmes told police he was being blackmailed by the two men and that Brady told him he had thrown Smith’s body into the sea.
On the morning of the inquest Holmes was found shot dead in his car. The case remains unsolved.
The site had the last active small slipway business in the area with the Holmes family ceding ownership of the land in 1950.
The Mosman Daily has attempted to contact Mr Wilkenfeld.
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