117 Victoria St, Potts Point: Planning panel rejects proposal to demolish affordable rentals

“You can’t even get a dog box” in Potts Point for the price of renting the suburb’s last affordable units, which are staying put after a planning panel rejected a bid to knock them down.

117 Victoria Rd, Potts Point.

Residents have expressed relief after a planning panel rejected an “inappropriate” proposal to known down “the last affordable unit block” in an inner-city suburb and replace its 45 dwellings with a smaller number of more spacious apartments.

Under the $23.4m proposal, 117 Victoria St in Potts Point would have been demolished, with its units, leased at prices below the area’s median rent, to be replaced by an eight-storey unit block featuring a rooftop pool.

Of the 25 new apartments, five would have been set aside as affordable housing for 15 years, planning documents state.

Planning documents also stated the five affordable units would provide “significant social public benefits” and argued the proposal as a whole in the public interest.

However, last month, a local planning panel rejected the plan after deeming it to be “inappropriate in the current housing climate”.

117 Victoria St, Potts Point, as it stands today.

In its published determination, the City of Sydney’s local planning panel outlined reasons for refusal that included the reduction in dwellings and loss of affordable rentals.

Similar sentiments were echoed throughout the 82 pages of publicly available submissions, most of which objected to the plans.

An artist’s impression of the proposed redevelopment.

One submission, written on behalf of a local neighbourhood association, stated the existing building still had “years of productive life left in it”.

It also said the building was “occupied mostly by workers in the local service industries”, who could otherwise not afford to live locally.

“Are these workers expected to move far away to new homes in suburbs in outer Sydney and commute to and from at the start or end of

each shift in the very early or very late hours?” the submission asked.

The objection then stated the building was also home to “long-term, low-to-no income residents such as the elderly”, who had become dependent on local services.

An artist’s render of the proposed redevelopment of 117 Victoria St. Picture: Supplied

One tenant, who has lived in his $550 a week studio for three years, said his “heart just broke” when he was faced with the prospect of relocating.

“It’s a great relief we can stay for now,” he said.

“It’s still the cheapest value for dollar around this area.

“These units are a gem. (They’re) the last affordable units in Potts Point and, believe me, I’ve looked.

“You can’t even get a dog box for $550 around here.”

Another resident believes the relief is only temporary because he anticipates an appeal, lodged in October in response to a “deemed refusal” by the local council, will inevitably result in the tenants being turfed out.

“It’s great for now,” he said.

“It means we can stay a bit longer, but we’re going to move anyway.

“You don’t want to wait ’til the last minute.”

In a separate development, this St Neot Ave unit block is set to be turned into a single mansion.

The planning panel’s refusal follows this masthead previously reporting the former tenants of nearby 8 St Neot’s Ave had been evicted to make for a dramatic redevelopment, under which the whole unit block was to be turned into a single mansion.

That controversial development application was given the green light in August last year, since which time its almost a dozen residents have been sent packing.

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