Inside developer’s Lindsay Bennelong bid to buy Maroubra police station site

A Sydney council’s hopes for an existing police station site to be developed has failed to come to fruition, with the developer now lodging $48m plans for a nine-storey tower.

The proposed development at 138 Maroubra Rd looking from Piccadilly Place.

A $44m nine-storey residential development designed to “address the need for housing and employment” in Sydney’s southeast has been proposed.

Developer Lindsay Bennelong recently lodged plans to Randwick Council to see 57 apartments erected at 138 Maroubra Rd, Maroubra, next door to the existing police station.

The proposal also includes two retail tenancies on the ground floor and one commercial tenancy on level one.

Before submitting its plans, the council told the developers its preference was to amalgamate the site with the adjacent police station at 136 Maroubra Rd.

Lindsay Bennelong’s development director Leigh Manser told this publication the company then made a “concerted effort” to acquire the land, speaking to NSW Police before being knocked back by Crown Lands.

The proposed development at 138 Maroubra Road looking west.

Planning documents before Randwick Council indicate the company contacted NSW Police on August 3 before receiving a reply 12 days later which outlined that the land must be sold by Crown Lands.

Mr Manser said the company was advised the land was subject to two undetermined Aboriginal Land Claims under the Aboriginal Land Rights Act 1983 and there was “no time frame [for] when this would be considered”.

The proposed development at 138 Maroubra Road looking east.

This prompted the developers to commence designing the development at the stand alone site of 138 Maroubra Rd.

In the planning of the proposed development, Mr Manser said Lindsay Bennelong “conducted a number of studies” to determine the impacts on existing surrounding apartments and the public domain.

He said it “clearly” demonstrated the proposal had less of an impact on privacy issues and overshadowing compared to if it amalgamated the adjacent police station site.

Mr Manser referenced planning documents which state the development would “address the need for housing and employment growth in Randwick” while providing a “positive contribution” to the urban renewal of Maroubra Junction.

“[It would] reinvigorate a timeworn development site that currently detracts from the streetscape and does not address the needs of the locality,” he said.

If approved, the development would include multiple one, two and three bedroom apartments, along with one four bedroom apartment.

The design of a three level basement would see 89 carparking spaces as well as five motorbike spaces and 27 bicycle spaces.