belconnen's Sky Plaza

[smitho]

By John Thistleton Property Reporter
464 words
29 November 2005
Canberra Times
4
English
(c) 2005 The Canberra Times

The site of an 18-storey unit development, 500m from Belconnen shopping mall and overlooking Lake Ginninderra, will be auctioned early next month. The height of the proposed development, which could include up to 226 units and cost $100million to build, surprised nearby residents when the Land Development Agency revealed the concept in September. Belconnen Community Council said it was an exciting project but called for a special reference group to help with public consultation. A landscaped viewing corridor will dissect the 7708sqm block from Chandler Street through to Emu Bank. The site will include the 18-storey tower on one side and two other buildings, five storeys and three storeys high, on the other. The Land Development Agency, which releases and markets land on behalf of the ACT Government, has for the first time appointed a commercial agent, Knight Frank, to market the Belconnen site which is likely to be sold for between $5million and $10million.

Knight Frank's joint managing director in Canberra, Greg Lyons, said the auction presented an opportunity to create Belconnen's version of the Sky Plaza, the Canberra Investment Corporation's 21-storey residential tower in Woden town centre. Mr Lyons said demand for units was likely to come from live-in owners from the surrounding suburbs, as happened when Sky Plaza was built. John Runko, principal of Canberra's biggest marketer of residential units, the Independent Property Group, was reluctant to comment on the timing of the auction. ''The fact is that it is out there [on the market] and there is nothing that can be done about it. ''As things are at the moment, purchasers and developers are in the balance. The fear is that if too much does come on to the market then that may lead to a situation where there is oversupply [of units].'' Mr Lyons said there was no doubt the units market was ''taking a breather'', but there was no competing stock of this nature in Belconnen. A prominent Canberra developer or a large national company would most likely buy the site and take the opportunity to design something outstanding. Canberra valuer Richard Swinbourne said the site was unique. ''Many developers will think hard about whether they want to get involved in a high-rise development, having regard to the huge amount of commercial construction that is under way,'' he said. ''It will place some stresses on someone being able to build a high-rise residential property within a reasonable time frame. In that respect, the timing [of the auction] is not great. ''[But] the market will find its level, whether there is an over- supply or not. The difficulty ... in terms of getting tradespeople is more significant.''

[smitho]

Posted the CT article without adding that I'd be interested to know if anything is happening with is proposal?

As I understand the planning rules (as they used to apply at least), this building would be contrary to the Canberra planning framework which limits building heights to the extent necessary so that they fit within the contours of the hills and natural features of our region.

If you look across Lake Ginninderra from Ginninderra Drive you can see how all the new buildings in Belconnen Town Centre (as well as the older ones) sit neatly within and below the setting of the surrounding hills, rather than projecting above them. This is in keeping with Burley Griffin's broad vision for the 'bush capital'. The same is true in Civic.

Woden Town Centre has always been the one exception to these height limits, presumably because it sits on very low land while its surrounding hills (eg Mt Taylor) and pretty dominant. That's how Sky Plaza got the tick.