Sydney Metro West: 500 property owners facing acquisition, Construction timeline revealed
The construction timeline for Sydney Metro West has been revealed as acquisition lawyers say property owners in the CBD are facing ‘nightmarish negotiations’.
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The NSW Government will be forced to negotiate with more than 500 property interests in a two development sites for the Sydney Metro West’s Hunter St station and Pyrmont station precincts.
Nightmarish negotiations for property owners — which take in excess of six months to complete — come as it is revealed a massive 119 landowners are fighting Sydney Metro acquisition specialists in the Land and Environment Court or pursuing independent reviews of property value by the NSW Valuer General on other station sites.
Sydney Metro boss, Peter Regan revealed in a parliamentary inquiry into NSW Government land acquisitions last month there were a total of 513 “individual property interests” across 13 buildings facing compulsory acquisition for the Hunter St and Pyrmont development precincts.
Mr Regan said the acquisition process would be a “very different challenge and circumstance” in comparison to previous land acquisitions across Sydney.
“A lot of the properties that we have acquired, have been acquired by agreements,” Mr Regan said. “In acquisitions at scale in areas where you have a higher proportion of strata occupation, particularly in the retail or commercial space, are very different.
“That’s a very different environment to when you are acquiring a greenfield site.”
Leading acquisitions specialist David Newhouse said negotiations have been unsuccessful “across the board” in Hunter St.
“With around 100 businesses being relocated from the Hunter Connection, Sydney Metro are taking a hard-line approach by not genuinely negotiating and having a “take or leave it attitude,” Mr Newhouse said.
“It has been very difficult to negotiate with Sydney Metro to date.
“Sydney Metro believe these businesses can easily relocate across Sydney, but there are no similar centres for these businesses to move into — these hardworking business owners will need to pay two to three times more than what Sydney Metro is offering to be put back into a similar position.”
Mr Newhouse said for many, the only alternative would be to close their businesses for good, as they cannot afford to move.
“It is time for Sydney Metro to understand what is available in the market to ensure that these businesses are fairly compensated,” he said. ‘”Sydney Metro should provide a list of available properties to help these businesses move.”
Sydney Metro’s preference is to always try and reach a commercial agreement with affected landowners and tenants.
A Sydney Metro spokeswoman said the department was “committed to dealing fairly with all affected owners”.
“All property acquisitions are carried out in accordance with the requirements of the Land Acquisition Act,” she said.
“Of the 417 acquisitions undertaken for the Westmead to The Bays section of Sydney Metro West, the large majority have been finalised by mutual agreement between Sydney Metro and property owners/tenants.
“There are 513 individual property interests across 13 buildings being acquired for the Pyrmont and Hunter Street Metro Stations — these acquisitions are underway and Sydney Metro is currently progressing negotiations with property owners and tenants.”
TIMELINE REVEALED FOR METRO CONSTRUCTION
Concerns from residents and acquisition specialists comes as NSW Planning placed the Sydney Metro West rail infrastructure, station, precincts and operations plans on public exhibition.
The mutli-staged project, expected to be operational from 2030, revealed finalised blueprints for the Sydney Metro West masterplan and its twin 24km tunnels and stations at Westmead, Parramatta, Sydney Olympic Park, North Strathfield, Burwood North, Five Dock, The Bays, Pyrmont and Hunter Street in the Sydney CBD.
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GOVERNMENT ISSUES $22K BILL FOR VACATED PROPERTIES IN CLYDE
14 PROPERTY OWNERS RECEIVE ‘DRASTICALLY HIGHER VALUATIONS’ FROM VALUER GENERAL
PYRMONT STATION: RESIDENTS, BUSINESSES CALL FOR CLARITY ON PLANS
LAND GAZETTAL REVEALS NUMBER OF OFFERS REFUSED BY BUSINESS, LAND OWNERS
ACQUISITIONS: BUSINESS OWNERS REJECT GOVERNMENT COMPENSATION OFFERS
PROPERTY OWNERS IN LIMBO AS LAND GAZETTAL DELAYED
SYDNEY METRO WEST: NSW GOVERNMENT DELAY COMPLETION DATE UNTIL 2030
WHERE PROPERTIES WILL BE ACQUIRED, TRAVEL TIMES AND STATION SITES
Planners for the project said it would create 10,000 direct jobs and a massive 70,000 indirect jobs throughout the construction phase, while “support new residential and employment zones along the Greater Parramatta to Sydney CBD corridor”.
The Sydney Metro team said the project would enable faster public transport for 420,000 new residents and 300,000 workers along the new metro station corridor by 2042.
The masterplanned development application, submitted on March 18, confirms plans for over-station development, as well as retail, commercial and community facilities.
“The Greater Parramatta to Sydney CBD corridor is one of the city-shaping transport
corridors nominated in the Greater Sydney Region Plan,” a planner for the project said.
“The corridor is of national economic significance and contains nearly 620,000 high productivity jobs, which is around 20 per cent of the jobs in Greater Sydney and generates eight per cent of the nation’s Gross Domestic Product per year.
“The delivery of Sydney Metro West offers the opportunity to deliver a legacy, transform areas by creating new places, or reinforcing and enhancing existing places.”
According to planning documents, tunnel and station construction isn’t expected to start until at least October, 2024, with Sydney Olympic Park Metro Station expected to be the first site to launch construction.
Work is then expected to start at Burwood North, Five Dock and North Strathfield in January 2025, followed by Westmead, Pyrmont and The Bays from April 2025.
Construction at Pyrmont and Hunter St isn’t expected to start until October 2025.
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