Now Arkadia wants consent to build a Grosvenor Lane plaza

North Sydney Council now has a second suitor who wants landowners consent over its Grosvenor Lane car park property in return for building a development-linked plaza.

Property company Arkadia, which owns and operates Theo’s Arcade between Grosvenor Lane and Military Road, has written to North Sydney councillors signalling its intention to seek consent to make use of the council land for its own plaza vision.

Arkadia was prompted to devise its own plan for the plaza after Coles sought—and was controversially granted Council consent to incorporate the existing car park in its own plan for an extended underground car park and above-ground plaza as part of a development it is planning at the existing Woolworths Neutral Bay site in Grosvenor St. This would see a multistory residential block constructed above the supermarket, which would convert to a Coles operation when Woolworths vacates its tenancy late next year.

As the North Sydney Sun reported last month, Arkadia was unhappy that Coles had jumped the gun and was seeking Council approval for a significant re-development many months ahead of the expected release of a Neutral Bay Town Centre Planning Study.

This study was rebooted after the current council nixed the existing one on the basis that it enabled excessive heights.

North Sydney Council mayor Zoe Baker told Arkadia CEO Ric O’Connell at a Council meeting in April that there was nothing to stop anyone from lodging a request to seek landowners consent over the car park.

Arkadia appears to have literally taken her at her word and is testing

Council prepares for Climate Change plan

North Sydney Council is looking to strengthen the LGA’s strategy and planning for Climate Change responses. Council administration was tasked with assessing current strategies and neighbouring councils’ resilience plans. It recommended seeking grant funding to develop a North Sydney Resilience Plan.

The Resilience Plan would need $100,000 upfront, and possibly further ongoing monies, to revisit the Council’s plan from 12 December 2022; a report detailing climate change tactics in response to the impact of future extreme natural disasters.

Lane Cove LGA was successful in granting funding for a climate resilience officer and a resilience plan back in 2019. Their plan develops 5 goals that aim to build resilience in the community, buildings, urban open space, natural environment and within Council. 70% of the 51 actions in the report were taken from existing strategies, with 31% new actions coming as a result of the 2019 plan.

the Council’s willingness to countenance alternate proposals.

“We submit this request in the interest of ensuring an open, transparent and collaborative approach to deliver the new public plaza in Neutral Bay, in line with Council’s future vision,” Ethos Urban, acting on behalf of Arkadia, wrote to councillors.

“As it stands, on the basis of the development application being prepared by Coles which includes the plaza, we are of the opinion that the opportunity for a collaborative process to deliver a design that equitably meets the needs of all relevant stakeholders may be lost.”

This is a reference to concerns from shopkeepers and property owners on Grosvenor Lane that the disruption to parking from the Coles proposed development would drive them out of business. “The proposed DA will involve reconfigured public parking, loading arrangements and design of a public plaza on the Grosvenor Lane car park site,” Ethos Urban wrote. “The development will be carried out and funded by Arkadia (at no cost to Council), through the mechanism of a Planning Agreement between Arkadia and Council. Arkadia propose that the agreement provides for delivery of the plaza in lieu of infrastructure costs levied on the future redevelopment of its land.”

“For the avoidance of doubt, there is no expectation that Council warrants any development outcome on Arkadia’s land, it is merely a forward funding proposal based on costs to be levied on any future development that may or may not occur. Arkadia supports Council’s requirement that the Plaza is to remain in public ownership and control.”

Arkadia’s proposal will concentrate public open space to the southern side of the plaza where solar access is best achieved, with direct and activated frontage to adjacent small businesses, it said. “Arkadia’s proposal will retain Grosvenor Lane and an appropriate quantum of on-grade parking, as well as dedicated servicing arrangements to ensure the viability and strength of the existing retail offerings, prior to future redevelopment of adjacent land,” it added. “Arkadia is willing to deliver the plaza at no cost to Council and in a manner that actively incorporates input from the community and relevant stakeholders and does not result in a prejudiced outcome.”

The latest development places the Council in an interesting quandary.

It cannot actually rule on either of the development applications since it has an interest in the carpark land: in both cases, they will be sent to higher planning panels.

Ultimately, both cannot proceed, which suggests that whoever can get its development application approved first wins the race. But where Council does have leverage is over its consent for use of its land, enabling it to make a choice between the two proposals. How it will do that is yet to be seen.

One of the four councillors who opposed the granting of consent to Coles earlier this year, Cr Ian Mutton, observed to the North Sydney Sun that: “it seems like we are crossing the finishing line before we fired the starter’s pistol.”