VCAT Rejects Luxury Fitzroy Apartment Scheme Appeal

Plans for a luxury apartment project at Fitzroy have been thrown into doubt after the Victorian planning tribunal blocked its permit and the site sold. The original owners of the site and developer of the project, Beulah, took Yarra City Council to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) last week after the council failed to grant a permit to its inner-Melbourne project in the prescribed time. Beulah, which called in administrators to its development arm this year , has now sold the 1200sq m site to Leeka, a Malaysian developer. Beulah acquired it in 2021 for a reported $12.2 million. Leeka confirmed to The Urban Developer that it had taken over the site from Beulah. The latter was development manager for the project prior to the VCAT hearing beginning. Apartment sales had not launched for the development and the sale was not conditional on the outcome of the VCAT hearing. Beulah had planned an eight-storey residential-focused mixed-use development at the 430-434 George Street site, filing an application for 44 apartments last year. The development, designed by Breathe Architecture, was intended to be an “eco-conscious development … fusing heritage with state-of-the-art sustainable design”. ▲ A rendering of the Beulah project that included a podium with retail tenancies in the historic suburb. The prolific developer behind Melbourne’s $2.7-billion Sth Bnk development—which it reportedly may soon have to sell— amended its Fitzroy plans prior to the hearing. Beulah reduced the project by one floor for a seven-storey development with two levels of basement parking. But the council remained opposed due to the height and lack of setbacks that would “visually dominate” and have an “unacceptable impact” on surrounding development, it said. The Yarra council also said it was contrary to design objectives in the Yarra Planning Scheme. A number of residents and the Fitzroy Residents Association also opposed the proposed development, raising carparking and traffic issues. During the hearing, a council representative argued that graded land in the vicinity meant there was a preferred building height of four storeys at the north-west portion of the site, and five-storeys across much of the remainder. ▲ The proposed building would have bordered a heritage item—a cottage built in 1865 by a Melbourne cab driver. They said that the site was on the edge of an activity centre and next to a neighbourhood residential zone, and did not provide an “appropriate and respectful response to the adjacent heritage building” at 436 George Street. Beulah argued that the design and development overlay of the Yarra planning scheme encouraged a new midrise character for the transitioning area. A suggested reduction in height and apartments made during the hearing by an expert “would be at odds with a proper response to the housing crisis which the state now faces”, it contended. The court said it “would be an abuse of power by Council or the Tribunal to refuse to endorse a proposal entailing an acceptable outcome in the hope of forcing adoption of its preferred proposal”. However, while the tribunal agreed that the site should provide a transition towards lower-scale residential, it said that the issues raised were “fatal to the proposal achieving an acceptable planning outcome”. ▲ The former Beulah site is 3km from the Melbourne CBD. The tribunal ruled that the existence of a housing crisis did not “outweigh the negative considerations” of the project. It affirmed the decision of the Yarra council and did not grant a permit for the site. While Leeka director Raphael Yen said it had been disappointed by the outcome, given the current housing challenges in the state, it still had high hopes for the site. “It is unfortunate that the tribunal decided not to grant a permit with conditions, opting instead for a full refusal,” he said. “Nevertheless, we prefer not to dwell on the past. We are now going back to the drawing board to explore ways to make this development work for both the community and the development group.” Leeka, which recently secured approvals for its plans for a 32-home wellness-focused Prahran development, said it was in discussions with consultants to determine the best path forward. “We sincerely hope the community and council will work collaboratively with us to achieve a balanced outcome that benefits all parties,” Yen said.

VCAT Rejects Luxury Fitzroy Apartment Scheme Appeal

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