Knox St, Double Bay: Commercial, serviced apartments plans lodged with Woollahra Council

A stylish six-storey building may soon call Double Bay home with $5m plans for a mixed-use building – featuring shops, office space and serviced apartments – under consideration. See the plans.

3 Knox St DA July 2023 picture Bureau SRH

A stylish six-storey building may soon call Double Bay home with $5m plans for a mixed-use building – featuring shops, office space and serviced apartments – under consideration.

Plans have been lodged with Woollahra Council on behalf of Willowbrook Holdings Pty Ltd to demolish a partially constructed building to make way for a six-storey commercial development on Knox St.

Plans for a development lodged by Howe Architects Pty Ltd, were approved by Woollahra Council’s application review panel in 2017. Willowbrook Holdings purchased the property for $11.5m in 2018.

The new plans designed by architect firm Bureau SRH, will include four retail tenancies on the ground floor, commercial spaces at levels 1-3, and four serviced apartments at the upper levels.

Artists impressions of plans lodged for 3 Knox St. Picture: Bureau SRH.

Artists impressions of plans lodged for 3 Knox St. Picture: Bureau SRH.

An assessment of the development application by GSA Planning states the development will contribute to the evolving “streetscape character” of Double Bay by offering a mix of retail, commercial and visitor/tourist accommodation to serve the growing community’s needs.

“The proposed one bedroom serviced apartments have functional internal layouts with ample private open space, suitable for young professionals and tourists visiting the area in the short-term,” the submission states.

Artists impressions of plans lodged for 3 Knox St. Picture: Bureau SRH.

The site sits in an area where a draft Double Bay urban design and planning strategy – currently being reviewed by council – has proposed changes to the maximum number of storeys for development to six storeys.

The site is currently approved for heights up to 14.7m, however this strategy could see this raise this to 21.5m.

The development site also stands just a street away from a stretch of Bay St properties which was recently investigated by Woollahra Council for potential heritage-listing, as part of a wider heritage push in the area.

Double Bay Residents Association president, Mr Anthony Tregoning.

At July’s meeting the council voted to end investigations into the heritage value of a section of Bay St, between New South Head Rd and Short St, after a report concluded there were no properties which warranted it being listed as a heritage conservation area.

A raft of new commercial and residential developments at Double Bay in recent years has come under scrutiny from local community groups – as well as Woollahra councillors – who have argued the swift pace of change has destroyed the character of one of Sydney’s wealthiest neighbourhoods.

Double Bay Residents Association president Anthony Tregoning has raised the group’s concern developments were being approved by the planning panel and upheld by the Land and Environment Court before the council’s future urban strategy had been endorsed.

“There should not be one-off development application approvals, breaching current controls by massive percentages,” Mr Tregoning said.

Knox St was selected as the site for a proposed pedestrian mall to be partly funded by a NSW government grant to revitalise commercial hubs, however the plans were knocked back due to a funding shortfall and business community backlash.

This publication was unable to contact a representative of Willowbrook Holdings.