The
NSW Government has announced an extensive redevelopment of the Sydney suburb of
Macquarie Park.
Macquarie
Park is situated in northwest Sydney. It is part of the City of Ryde, though
borders the North Shore councils of Ku-ring-gai and Willoughby. It is home to
the Ivanhoe Estate – a medium density public housing complex consisting of 259 townhouses
and apartments, and approximately 460 residents. Ivanhoe was built
approximately 25 years ago.
NSW
Government plans to build 2500 new apartments in Macquarie Park by 2018, with
construction commencing next year. The number of new residences could rise as
high as 5800 between 2019 and 2031, though the Government has not actually
confirmed what, if any development will take place following the first stage of
construction.
Irrespective
of the final scope of the redevelopment, it will represent a substantial
increase in the population density of Macquarie Park. According to City of Ryde data, current density is 9.10 persons per
hectare over 676 hectares. At the 2011 census, its total population was 6149.
Indeed, the suburb is presently comprised mostly of university grounds, commercial
properties, parklands, and low-density housing.
Effect on public and
affordable housing stock
The
Ivanhoe Estate will be demolished as part of the redevelopment. However, the
first stage of construction will include 556 new public housing dwellings (that
is, 22.24% of total new dwellings).
This
represents a better net result for the public housing stock than provided for
in the Macquarie Park Task Force’s development fact sheet, published in May 2012.
This provided that, “If the Ivanhoe
estate is redeveloped, the same number of social housing homes will be built.
There will be no loss of social housing in the area.”
The
2016-2018 developments will also include an affordable housing component. Media
reporting conflicts on precisely how many affordable housing dwellings will be
built. The Daily Telegraph’s report, available here, says there will be 128
affordable housing dwellings (5.12%). The Sydney Morning Herald says “about 25 per cent” of total dwellings will be either public or
affordable housing. Given the public housing component is confirmed to be 556,
this would mean about 69 affordable housing residences (2.76%) will be built.
Effect on current public
housing tenants
NSW Family and Community Services Minister Brad Hazzard has said that, from
2016, FACS Housing will assist residents of the Ivanhoe Estate to relocate to
available public housing properties in the vicinity of Macquarie Park. The
Minister said that FACS Housing will also offer Ivanhoe residents the
opportunity to move back into Macquarie Park once redevelopment is
complete.
This
is largely consistent with what was provided in the Macquarie Park Task Force’s
fact sheet; “Where tenants are moved out
of the estate to allow redevelopment to take place, they will have the option
of moving back to the estate provided that a new dwelling is available that is
also suited to their needs.”
Macquarie
Park and all surrounding suburbs are situated in FACS Housing’s Northern Sydney
allocation zone. FACS Housing lists current wait times in Northern Sydney for
those eligible for public housing as “10+
years” for all types of dwelling. This suggests that public housing
availability in the vicinity of Macquarie Park is generally very low.
Nothing
announced to date gives credence to the rumour, published in a Daily Telegraph story in 2014, that “Public housing tenants could be forced to
pay full rent after five years under a “work for the dole”-type public housing
trial in Macquarie Park”.
Land acquisition
It
is not yet clear whether any privately owned residential properties or
commercial land will be compulsorily acquired to facilitate the redevelopment.
However,
the Macquarie Park Task Force fact sheet states that, collectively, the State
Property Authority and NSW Land and Housing Corporation already own 12.2
hectares of land in Macquarie Park. The Ivanhoe Estate is built on approximately 7 hectares.
Infrastructure
Investment
The
Sydney Morning Herald report linked above says the NSW Government will invest
$5 million into new infrastructure to accompany the redevelopment. The Daily
Telegraph says a new school “could be built” as part of first stage
of construction.
It
is unclear whether construction of the school would be paid for out of the $5
million infrastructure budget, or by private developers in return for
permission to undertake for-profit construction – as occurred, for example,
with construction of the Homebush Bay bridge.
Windfall
According
to the NSW Government’s Globe
program, the land value of the Ivanhoe estate site is approximately
$45,000,000. As the Government has not yet announced what, if any additional land will
be utilised for construction, it is not possible to calculate additional land
values.
Data
reflecting projected sales figures for apartments and commercial land to be
sold on the private market has not been made publicly available.
