It’s been a quarry, a depot and a dump. Soon hundreds will call this inner-city site home

It is one of the inner city’s biggest eyesores: a 12,000 square metre hole in the ground, once one of Sydney’s famed sandstone quarries, that has been a council depot and literal dump for more than a century.

The Wattle Street site in Pyrmont will now get a new life as a mixed-use precinct with apartments, offices, shops, a childcare centre and two sports courts after a long-running development proposal was approved on Thursday night.

The former quarry and waste yard at the corner of Wattle and Fig streets in Pyrmont, photographed in June 2021.Credit: Wolter Peeters

The council-owned block sits between Wattle, Fig and Jones streets, and is next to the Wentworth Park light-rail stop on the L1 line, near the Fish Market.

It has a special place in Sydney history. From 1870 to 1888, it was known as the “Hellhole” quarry and provided sandstone for the construction of the General Post Office in Martin Place.

Hellhole was one of three main Pyrmont quarries producing Sydney sandstone, the others being Paradise and Purgatory. Appropriately, Paradise was said to produce the best golden sandstone, Hellhole “involved a lot of hard work for poorer-quality stone”, the Herald reported in 2005.

View south-west from Jones Street towards Fig and Wattle Streets showing the council depot in 1957.Credit: City of Sydney council archives

The City of Sydney council bought the site in 1906 and used it as a depot. Those operations ceased in 1990, though it later became a dump site for various materials, including sandstone and poles displaced during the construction of the George Street light rail.

Developer Landream – which built the Opera Residences in Circular Quay – purchased the site in 2018 for $200 million, on condition of providing a childcare facility and multi-use indoor courts.

The final development approved on Thursday involves the construction of 237 apartments (including 63 three-bedroom units) and a childcare centre with 91 places, as well as a recreation centre that will revert to council ownership. At its tallest, it will be 12 storeys.

Lord Mayor Clover Moore said it was an example of “density done well” after six years of careful planning and negotiations. She also said the delivery of 237 homes was another reason the NSW government should commit to removing the greyhound racing track from Wentworth Park, which is directly across the street.

The development was subject to an architectural design competition won by BVN.

“Wentworth Park should be for dog walking, not dog racing,” Moore said. “Overwhelmingly, the community supports removing the greyhound racing track to create more public parkland.”

The previous Coalition government announced greyhound racing would end at Wentworth Park once the lease to the Greyhound Breeders, Owners and Trainers Association (GBOTA) expired in 2027. An alternative location, likely in south-western Sydney, would be found.

A spokesman for NSW Land and Property Minister Steve Kamper said the government was committed to “making the most of all parts of the Blackwattle Bay and Wentworth Park precinct”.

The Wentworth Park greyhound track, with the former quarry and council depot on the left of the screen.Credit: Nick Moir

In February, Kamper had told a budget estimates hearing Labor was considering whether to continue greyhound racing at Wentworth Park in some form, possibly with additional community uses.

At the same estimates session, Racing Minister David Harris confirmed the GBOTA had expressed interest in renewing the lease and staying at the site, but no formal proposal had been received.

“I believe there is great historical value to the greyhound industry at that site. It’s occurred there for a long time,” Harris said at the time.

“Greyhound racing does not have a strong metropolitan base, so I am leaning towards being convinced that if they seek an extension, that might be supported. I’m not the landholder, so that’s a decision for Minister Kamper.

“They [the GBOTA] have to come back and demonstrate to us that it can be financially viable, that there is benefit to the industry and to the area.”

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