Housing development: Apartments, topshop housing proposed for 6-10 Bowral St, Kensington

A trio of single-storey homes near Randwick could soon be knocked down to make way for a towering 10-storey apartment building near a transport hub. Here’s what’s planned.

6-10 Bowral St Kensington

Developers have pitched a $21.6 million apartment complex, featuring two towers standing up to 10 and eight storeys tall, in a booming part of Sydney’s eastern suburbs.

Town planner ‘Planning Ingenuity’ has put forward a proposal for 34 apartments at 6-10 Bowral St, Kensington, bordering Anzac Pde.

The development site is less than 300 metres from the Kensington Light Rail stop and walking distance from the University of NSW, Centennial Parklands and Moore Park.

What it could look like … artist impression of proposal for 6-10 Bowral St, Kensington.

The pitch comes on the back of a wave of new development proposals for Kensington and its surrounding suburbs.

Last year saw a tense standoff between billionaire developer Harry Triguboff and sections of the community over an ambitious plan to build over 700 apartments in the neighbouring suburb of Zetland, Randwick Council voted to support a $52 million student housing development along Anzac Pde and construction is well underway on property developer TOGA’s $180 million pitch for a mixed-use residential hub in Kensington.

The location of the proposal development (outlined in red).

In the new housing proposal, Ground Ink architects state the area has been “slated for significant development … beginning with the introduction of the light rail corridor”.

It’s stated in planning documents that “the increasing densification” of Kensington means “the face of the suburb is set to change considerably”.

In 2022, the Land and Environmental Court knocked back a similar proposal for a nine-storey building with 39 apartments on the site. Among the reasons listed for the rejection was the proposed building’s height, which the 19 metre limit by almost 10 metres.

A previous proposal (pictured) for the site was rejected.

If approved the eight and ten-storey apartment buildings would take the place of three single-storey Federation style family homes.

While these three-buildings were not heritage-listed, other buildings in the area were and a heritage impact statement identified a concern the “increased overall building footprint” might clash with the area’s character.

The current pitch would see two distinct buildings — ‘building A’ would be ten-storey topshop housing while ‘building B’ would be a six to eight-storey residential buildings.

There would be one commercial site and 34 apartments, ranging in size from one-bedroom to four-bedrooms. There would also be 50 carparking spaces.

“The proposal will contribute to the quantum of housing in the Randwick area and has tangible social benefits in this regard.

“(It) will provide a significant increase in the variety of accommodation within close proximity to public transport and various land uses.