The NSW Land & Environment Court has refused RDA Property Group's appeal to build seven more units at its Bronte Place apartment project on the controversial former Bronte RSL site.
RDA, headed by the former fashion identity Danny Avidan, sought an intensification of the project at at 109-113 Macpherson Street, which had been previously approved for 21 apartments last year.
RDA lodged a revised development application last December, which was refused by Waverley Council.
Design of the initial
three storey block was by architects SJB. Town planning expert witness Anthony Betros was engaged by the developer applicant and Joseph Vescio by the Council. Colin Biggers Paisley were the solicitors for the applicant with Wilshire Webb Staunton Beattie Lawyers for the respondent council.
It took four years to obtain development approval for the project which the former fashion identity Danny Avidan bought from the Sydney developer Winston Langley.
Commissioner Dickson on Tuesday dismissed the appeal due to the solar impact the additional units could cause to existing approved units.
"The proposed development results in a material change in impact to the solar amenity experienced by the approved apartments and to a lesser extent the adjoining development," the judgement ruled adding the impact arises from an exceedance of the controls.
Avidan told Fairfax Media he accepted the decision.
"I respectfully accept the court's decision despite the fact that I disagree with the findings. I will proceed with the current approvals," he said.
The community, led by the Save Bronte group, successfully protested the developer's decision to vary the 21-unit low-rise approval.
A three-bedroom penthouse, one of two in the boutique Bronte Place development, was sold on its launch last October, for $4 million.
It was among the $32 million worth of apartments sold in the long-awaited redevelopment on the site of the former RSL premises.
The project was being sold through CBRE in what was the first major apartment project in Bronte in two decades.
Sales included a one-bedroom, 30sq m apartment that sold for $1.55 million. The $4 million sale was a three-bedroom, 135sq m apartment.
