Randwick Rezoning Bid Sparks Wave of Shoptop Projects

New zoning amendments for a commercial strip around the Royal Randwick shopping centre may currently be on exhibition by the Randwick City Council, but developers are already floating projects and site-specific zoning amendments. Among the largest is the shopping mall itself, with Dexus lodging a request for SEARs for a major makeover and uplift. Total demolition of the building at 73 Belmore Road is proposed, to make way for a 13-storey shoptop development. The project would yield 237 apartments in one, two and three-bedroom configurations over 11 storeys. A two-storey podium would comprise retail space, as well as a library. More retail, including a supermarket, would be located in a below-ground level, while four storeys of carparking would sit below that. FJC Studio will design the complex, approved for the Housing Delivery Authority pathway in May 2025 . Dexus acquired the site in 2023, after purchasing AMP Capital’s assets in a billion-dollar transaction . The current proposal does not yet have a cost attached. Affordable housing would be set at 3 per cent, in line with the proposed new rules for the site, while small portions of the neighbourhood are marked for seven and nine per cent contributions. Among other changes put forward by the council in the plan, on exhibition until February 24, are a proposed height uplift from 12m to up to 45m for strategic sites and floor space ratios of up to 4.5:1. The Royal Randwick shopping mall would be allowed 13 storeys. ▲ About 7km to the south of the Sydney CBD, the neighbourhood around Royal Randwick Racecourse is preparing for significant redevelopment. The Randwick Labor Club at 135 Alison Road, which closed in December 2025, would be allowed 11 storeys. An HDA proposal is under way for that site, with members voting in September to progress an 11-storey, 115-apartment mixed-use scheme with ground-floor retail, replacement club premises and a 15 per cent affordable component. Under the rezoning, a former CBA building at 16-24 Belmore Road would be permitted 12 storeys. An environmental impact statement is being prepared for a 15-storey, 104-home shoptop project at that site, with FSR of 6:1. An application for concurrent rezoning would be filed alongside. The proponent of that project, Belmore Road Property Nominees Pty Ltd, is a vehicle of lawyer and NSW Golf Club president Chris Coudounaris and horticulture magnate Leo Lynch, owner of Australia’s largest flower wholesaler. University, hospitals, racecourse breaking turf Meanwhile, 600m from the shopping centre, the University of New South Wales has this week won approval for an 11-storey, $171-million tower to be used as a flexible teaching space. ▲ A rendering of the building that is expected to facilitate redevelopment of other university land into student accommodation. The G25 Education project is to be built on a 5707sq m site now used as a carpark, yielding 20,199sq m of classrooms, lecture halls, learning spaces and landscaped area. The Architectus-designed building will also include offices and a ground-floor cafe. No carparking spaces will be replaced but 20 bicycle spots will be added. By re-allocating teaching spaces to the G25 building, the university will also be able to develop about 10,000sq m of flexible accommodation on the eastern side of the campus. Planning strategies across the area have linked several precincts, including Randwick Junction, the nearby hospital and health precinct incorporating the Sydney Children’s Hospital and Prince of Wales Hospital, UNSW and the Royal Randwick Racecourse. Recent developments in the health precinct include a $658-million upgrade to the Children’s Hospital and a $600-million UNSW Health Translation Hub . Both completed in late 2025, with pedestrian skybridges now linking the university to the hospitals. ▲ Planning controls and strategies differ across the different precincts of the neighbourhood, but respond to one another. Meanwhile, the Australian Turf Club’s development plans continue under beleaguered conditions. In May 2025, members of the ATC rejected a $5-billion plan to sell the Rosehill Racecourse , about 20km north-west of the Sydney CBD, into public ownership. That plan would have delivered 25,000 homes and a new Metro station for the racecourse and significantly improved the club’s financial position. The government is instead pursuing an alternative 10,000-home plan for the surrounding district . Focus has now shifted to Royal Randwick Racecourse, immediately to the north of the university. Approval was granted in July 2024 for a 190-key, seven-storey hotel with a $93-million price tag attached. Reports have emerged this week that the ATC is also in the early stages of a plan to sell a parcel of land, suitable for 3000 apartments, on the southern edge of the racecourse. The club is fighting a NSW Supreme Court battle with industry regulator Racing NSW, who is attempting to place the organisation into administration over alleged financial and governance issues. In a hearing in December 2025, the club argued that its financial position is healthy.

Randwick Rezoning Bid Sparks Wave of Shoptop Projects

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