Bondi Apartment Scheme Leads Latest HDA Endorsements

The Housing Delivery Authority has revealed the latest 11 projects endorsed for the accelerated state pathway, with a number of complex proposals among them.

Leading the charge is an expression of interest for a Bondi Junction residential scheme with affordable housing, which was initially rejected by the HDA as two separate applications.

Other applicants include a downsized senior living project on a lot that has sat vacant for two decades; an existing five-storey commercial building adding adjacent shoptop housing; and neighbouring projects in the Frenchs Forest Low and Mid-Rise zone.

The Bondi Junction project lists addresses at 71, 73, 75, 77, 79-81 Old South Head Road; 2, 4 & 6 Bondi Road; and 2A Ben Eden Street.

A DA for some of those addresses [pictured at top] had been lodged with the Waverley Council, but was withdrawn in April this year.

Two separate projects at those addresses were put before the HDA by 9Springs and Planning&Co in 2025, but were rejected due to a lack of clarity over land tenure. The authority then recommended that the parties co-ordinate and apply under a combined expression of interest.

At a briefing in March, the authority also recommended that consideration be given to acquiring a neighbouring site at risk of isolation, and to revising the affordable component upwards.

The development now endorsed by the HDA is a 24-storey, 179-apartment scheme with a 3 per cent affordable component, advanced by Central Element and companies associated with Andrew Margi.

▲ The Central Element site has been through a complex planning and amalgamation process. An earlier proposal is shown here.

A new draft of the Bondi Junction masterplan is due imminently, which will give guidance on the council’s vision for the future of housing and business in the area.

In Bexley, a seniors housing development with an affordable component is being progressed at 62-82 Harrow Road, about 11km from the Sydney CBD and 500m from the Rockdale train station.

A 8305sq m bowling club (including a 750sq m clubhouse) at the site was shuttered and marketed as a commercial development opportunity in 2008. Sitting derelict for years, the clubhouse was damaged in a 2013 arson attack, and subsequently demolished by the council.

Approval was granted in 2017 by the Sydney Central Planning Panel for a part-three, part-four storey residential care facility yielding 198 sole-occupancy rooms. However, St Basil’s has not activated that consent. 

Momentum Project Group is now pursuing a six-storey building for the site, yielding 112 independent living units with a 5 per cent affordable component.

▲ The bowling greens at the Bexley site have not been used in decades and the clubhouse was all but destroyed by arson in 2013.

About 2km to the south-west, a recently completed five-storey commercial building at 280-298 Railway Parade, Carlton is the address of an expression of interest for a shoptop housing development with 120 homes above ground-level commercial and retail space.

Think Planners is progressing the application, which will include a 10 per cent affordable yield about 850m from Kogarah Station and St George Hospital, and 1.5km from the retail and entertainment hub around Hurstville Station.

Meanwhile in Frenchs Forest, two projects in the LMR zone on Gladys Avenue are progressing the accelerated pathway. A 10-storey, three-tower, 205-home project at 3, 5, 5a, 7, 9, 9a & 9b Gladys Ave, has been updated to add the address at 1 Gladys Ave.

A neighbouring site at 116 Frenchs Forest Road West, 118 Frenchs Forest Road West, 120 Frenchs Forest Road West and 11 Gladys Avenue has been endorsed for a 13-storey tower yielding 225 apartments. 

▲ HDA projects are sprouting on Gladys Avenue, which is across Frenchs Forest Road West from the Northern Beaches Hospital.

Gladys Avenue fringes the Northern Beaches Hospital, which returned to public ownership in April following the Healthscope collapse. The cul-de-sac is becoming a development hotspot. However, an application for a 48m tower with 113 apartments at 12-14 Gladys Avenue was rejected by the HDA in April 2026.

Other projects endorsed by the HDA are:

• A 30-storey, 206-home building at 71-81A Regent Street & 10 -38 Renwick Street, Redfern, with up to 100 co-living apartments.

• A 15-storey, 200-home scheme at 11-19 Yattenden Crescent, Baulkham Hills.

• Three-towers of 25, 50 and 50 storeys yielding 1350 apartments, with stage 1 inclusive of 740 apartments in a 50-storey tower and a 10 per cent affordable component at 2 -12 Second Avenue and 7 First Avenue, Blacktown.

• An eight-storey, 100-home tower at 206 -208 Wardell Road, 241 -247A Homer Street and 221 -235 Homer Street, Earlwood.

• A scheme with heights ranging from 5 to 28 storeys including a podium, yielding 1500 apartments at 12, 14, 20 & 24 Douglas Road and Nirimba Drive, Quakers Hill. The first stage will propose 450 homes and initially retain the existing building on the site.

• A 45-storey, 215-apartment shoptop project at 613-627 Pacific Highway, Chatswood. Proponent Antaeus Group would dedicate 25 per cent of gross floor area to an affordable component for 15 years, as well as a 4 per cent affordable housing contribution to the council.