The conversion of North Fremantle’s light industrial area to residential development appears set to continue, with plans for a 12-storey apartment complex on the former OneSteel site soon to be released, and a rezoning of the Matilda Bay Brewing Company s
The conversion of North Fremantle’s light industrial area to residential development appears set to continue, with plans for a 12-storey apartment complex on the former OneSteel site soon to be released, and a rezoning of the Matilda Bay Brewing Company site in the pipeline.
SAS Global Ltd is due to advertise its structure plan for the OneSteel site next week, where it hopes to build 192 apartments and some mixed use office and commercial buildings fronting Stirling Highway.
Its current design, which is yet to be assessed by council, reaches 12 storeys in height at its peak, or about 36 metres.
Across the road, the Matilda Bay Brewing site may be rezoned for residential use if the WA Planning Commission goes forward with an amendment to its planning scheme recommended by the City of Fremantle at last week’s council meeting.
The City of Fremantle said it would request the WAPC rezone the site from ‘industry’ to ‘urban’, adding that the council will change its own local planning scheme to allow for development on the site.
A spokesperson for the City of Fremantle said an amendment to the WAPC’s metropolitan region scheme could take up to 18 months to be approved.
While the city is yet to assess SAS Global’s structure plan, it is conducting its own height study of the McCabe Street area, which will be released next month.
The study will be used to determine a height limit for future development in the area.
SAS Global project manager Jonathan Roach said the company’s plans for the site were consistent with a zoning of R60, which was towards the higher end of medium density development.
“The other option is to make [the development] lower and spread over more of the site, but we thought the better outcome would be to build up,” Mr Roach said.
About 80 per cent of the 3.1- hectare site will be retained as private open space if the current plans are approved, although Mr Roach said some public open space would be included if requested by council.
He said a SAS Global survey of residents in Mosman Park and North Fremantle had found people were mostly supportive of the proposed development.
“Generally, the residents want to see something happen on the site, because at the moment there’s just a large shed,” Mr Roach said.
SAS Global bought the OneSteel site from developer Michael Hodgson for $61 million in May last year – the second biggest industrial land sale for 2007.
The company is requesting a 12 storey height limit for the project, which is significantly higher than the five storeys allowed for coastal developments under the WAPC’s state planning policy.
Under the policy, buildings within 300 metres of the shoreline may be up to eight storeys in height, provided the development meets a number of criteria, including broad community support.
If the SAS proposal is accepted, the development will be the first major residential project on the eastern side of the railway line in North Fremantle’s industrial area.
On the other side of Stirling Highway, the Leighton Beach redevelopment is progressing, with Mirvac due to start construction of its $150 million apartments project in June.
