Harry Triguboff turns up heat on Little Bay

Harry Triguboff says land around Little Bay ‘must be developed’ and one of the best sites ripe for a redo is the vast Long Bay Jail complex.

Harry Triguboff said the Little Bay area in Sydney is ‘neglected’.

Multi-billionaire developer Harry Triguboff would like to redevelop what he considers one of the best sites in Sydney, the vast Long Bay Jail complex in Malabar in the city’s Eastern Suburbs.

“A lot of the jail is heritage, so you can’t pull it down, but it’s in the best position, I would put apartments and a hotel there,” says the rich lister, who is worth $24bn.

“We want to build units and eventually develop the Long Bay Jail, which is dilapidated. “But where will we put the prisoners? This must be resolved.”

Nearby in Little Bay, south-east of the Sydney CBD, Mr Triguboff wants to develop 1800 apartments on a vacant site he bought several years ago, but he says there has been no progress in gaining planning approval from Randwick City Council since he bought the site. He has approval for 450 units, but he says that is not sufficient.

“Little Bay is in the best part of Sydney. We have four golf courses at Little Bay and very few golfers. Little Bay beach can’t be used, because there are no decent steps to go down.

“Randwick City Council on purpose does not want to improve transport (to the area.). They prefer to have the prison and a few affordable housing units. Think how the people in Little Bay would benefit if we built many apartments also close to work and with beautiful views and beaches. The area is neglected.”

“Little Bay has to be developed my way. That’s it.”

This is despite strong community opposition towards Meriton’s plans for Little Bay.

“I think that the residents of Randwick should know that their units went down 12.5 per cent in 12 months,” he added.

Meanwhile, Mr Triguboff again called on the state government to do something to address the housing crisis, saying apartment prices and rental prices continue to rise because there is little stock.

“The government has to change their way of approving plans and give developers some certainty,” Mr Triguboff said.

“The planning department in NSW is still doing nothing to increase the production of apartments. We are still building less and less,” he said.

At present, Meriton is building 2000 apartment a year, down from its peak of 3000 units per year.

“We need to know what the planning departments have in mind. It would be good to know what they are thinking. For us to invest money, we need to be informed. I believe that the situation in supply is so hopeless that both parties in Canberra should make a bipartisan approach.”

Mr Triguboff’s Meriton Apartments is putting the finishing touches on a serviced apartment complex in Canberra and Melbourne, as well as a unit complex in the Sydney suburb of Liverpool.

He would like to win a court case, so he can start a development in Rhodes, and said he wants to build more apartments in Pagewood.

“The main thing is I would like to have the confidence to buy more land. But I have too much land which they won’t approve,” said Mr Triguboff, adding that it is much safer to buy more land here in Sydney because the city is much bigger than Surfers Paradise – another area where he has been a prolific developer.

Further north, Meriton has just bought a site in Brisbane opposite the Botanic Gardens and the river for an 80-storey unit tower.