Developers are planning to relocate the Kogarah golf course to make way for a sprawling 100-hectare development featuring 5,000 homes and a new sports stadium.
Homeowners in southern Sydney are banding together to sell off large blocks of land to developers after parts of Kogarah were controversially rezoned to allow for taller buildings and higher floor-space ratios.
One group of six owners close to the Kogarah town centre are looking at selling up for around $20 million to make way for 120-130 apartments in a building of up to 13 storeys. Another group of 11 property owners – who had numbered 29 until they splintered into two sets – are now actively discussing a $25 million deal that could see around 130 units built up to seven storeys high on the Princes Highway at Kogarah Bay.
It’s the latest rezoned area to experience large amalgamations of homes for sale, after Castle Hill in the north-west saw 25 neighbours band together to try to sell their 24,000 square metre lot for an estimated $100 million, and apartment owners in three blocks in nearby Macquarie Park tried to sell off their 3850 square metre high rise site for around $65 million.
Homeowners in Kogarah are teaming up to strike a deal with developers. Photo: Google Earth.
In Kogarah, this could be just the start of a massive scramble for agreements to come. “The area has needed a revitalisation for years,” said one of the 11 owners, father of three Foti, 48, who has declined to reveal his surname.
“Along the highway, some of the homes are, I wouldn’t say rubbish, but they are a bit derelict. The whole landscape needs to be changed along the corridor and, with cars and trucks racing by, it’s not a nice place to be. Putting in units and adding new shops and amenities, it will be a lot better. I wouldn’t mind buying one when they’re up.”
But the New City Plan just gazetted has been slammed by some sectors of the community amid vocal protest meetings.
“I am devastated that this has been agreed to in its original form with none of the sensible and reasonable amendments we made to it,” said former Kogarah councillor Kathryn Landsberry. “It’s an awful result for our area and will change its character completely.
Ramsgate Park is one development in Kogarah, which will see 550 apartments and 20 townhouses put on the former Darrel Lea factory site.
“But I do understand residents who are prepared to move getting together to sell their sites, as they don’t want blocks of apartments in the future peering into their backyards. It’s terrible, though, for existing residents who don’t want to move and could see themselves isolated in future among towers.”
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Agent Theo Penemenos of The Oxford Agency in Darlinghurst said the 11 owners are, at this stage, conducting negotiations off-market with potential buyers already on their database.
“But if nothing happens in a couple of weeks, we’ll put them on the market,” he said. “We’re talking to 10 developers at the moment. It’s a numbers game. You never know, more people might come in.”
The homeowners may not receive the magnitude of developer windfalls in previously rezoned areas. Tighter controls on bank lending to developers midst Reserve Bank and economists’ concerns over levels of apartment building have left some developers struggling to raise enough capital to finance big projects.
Fellow agent Andrew Stefanovski of Laing & Simmons St George, who is working with Mr Penemenos on the sales, said: “These sites in Kogarah are bigger so we’re talking a lot more money so they’re taking longer to sell.
“The 11 home-owners are on the main road, so you can put more units on it, but the bigger pool means there can be more tensions among the participants.
“The six are in a really good location, close to transport and the town centre, so that will probably be high rise as well. Being closer to the railway station and shops is a big thing for developers. But sometimes it’s easier to sell smaller sites for 20-60 units.”
Hopeful seller Foti said in many ways he hasn’t had much of a choice about whether to sell or not. If he doesn’t sell, he risks living in a house being dwarfed by apartment blocks all around. If he does sell, he has the chance to make some money to help buy property for his three daughters, and buy himself elsewhere.
“We want to get out a little bit in front,” he said. “But it’s always a bit of a gamble. We’ll have to wait at least 18 months for any money, and you don’t know how prices will go.”
Ms Landsberry said she fears for the future of those residents who don’t want to sell and could face being dwarfed by blocks. Domain last year carried the story of Barry Dickson, 87, who now has 84 apartments next door looking down into his backyard in Kogarah.
“We could end up with a lot more people like that poor man,” said Landsberry. “There’s always going to be someone who doesn’t want to give up their home. And we don’t have the infrastructure here to support so many more people, there’s already traffic congestion and so much pressure on schools.”
