Melrose Park, Ermington: Holdmark to build almost 2000 homes on Parramatta River
Almost 2000 apartments, terraces and townhouses will replace factories on two sites facing the Parramatta River as part of an ambitious development to transform the industrial area into a vibrant waterfront neighbourhood.
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Almost 2000 apartments, terraces and townhouses could replace factories on two chunks of land hugging the Parramatta River at Melrose Park and Ermington as part of an ambitious waterfront development to transform the industrial area.
Holdmark Property Group plans to build 1925 dwellings housing up to 4400 residents in blocks ranging from eight to 22 storeys at 112 Wharf Rd and 32 Waratah St at Melrose Park and 82 Hughes Ave at Ermington.
The homes would replace pharmaceutical, engineering and plastics manufacturing sites on the eastern part of the land. The vast 51,607sq m western site, formerly owned by pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline, includes purpose-built pharmaceutical manufacturing buildings.
Subject to State Government approval, the urban renewal project would provide 27,260sq m of public domain areas and 1000sq m of employment uses — 600sq m for food, retail and commercial services and a 400sq m childcare centre.
Residents are forecast to spend about $64 million a year on retail goods and services locally.
The project would generate 160 jobs while construction would provide 1841 direct jobs and another 5552 indirect jobs.
Holdmark is considering building a multipurpose community hub, contributing to Ermington Library upgrades, constructing a long daycare centre, new out of school hours (OOSH) places, sporting fields, outdoor recreation facilities, public art along the riverfront and housing for key workers if the project progresses.
A Holdmark spokeswoman said the company had earned a reputation for producing award-winning waterfront urban renewal community projects.
“Melrose Park is another opportunity to deliver a waterfront community development,’’ she said.
“This planning proposal will allow residents to live in close proximity to existing and future employment.
“This will allow people to use public transport to access jobs without the need for travelling long distances.
“This will therefore support the function of and make other centres, such as Parramatta and Macquarie Park, within the vicinity more competitive.’’
The development would occupy the southern end of Melrose Park. To the north, PAYCE developers’ $6 billion 6000-apartment development is under way.
Western Sydney Business Chamber executive director David Borger said the high density project underlined the demand for the government to commit to stage two of the Parramatta Light Rail.
“Wentworth Point, Melrose Park and Ermington are or are going to be high density communities supporting hundreds of new homes and jobs along the Parramatta River,’’ he said.
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“Parramatta Light Rail stage two is the missing piece of transport infrastructure that will connect these new communities to Parramatta and the future Sydney Metro West at Sydney Olympic Park – linking these residents to thousands of jobs.
“We should be supporting a strong pipeline of public and private investment in our region to kickstart our economy out of the COVID-19 recession.’’
Parramatta Liberal councillor Steve Issa has backed up the calls for improved infrastructure.
“As a precinct, Melrose Park has the opportunity to become something very special, noting it does have to have additional infrastructure,’’ he said.
He said the light rail would be the best solution or a bridge to link Melrose Park to neighbourhoods north of the river, such as Wentworth Point.
Construction on stage one of the $2.4 billion Parramatta light rail connecting Westmead to Carlingford is under way but the government is yet to commit to the second stage, which will link the Parramatta CBD with Sydney Olympic Park via Melrose Park via South, Boronia, Hope and Waratah streets, a bridge across the Parramatta River, Hill Rd, Australia Ave and Carter St.
Parramatta Council must endorse the Holdmark planning proposal before the government has the final say in approving or rejecting the development.