Mortdale RSL Club Reveals $140m Highrise Precinct Plan
An RSL club in Sydney’s south-west is planning a $140-million transformation, taking another shot at a mixed-use proposal after a scheme was knocked back in 2022.
Plans are in progress for a 233-home, multi-building development up to 20 storeys at 19-25 Macquarie Place, 46-52 Pitt Street and 56 Pitt Street at Mortdale, about 26km from the CBD.
The Mortdale RSL Club, run by Mortdale RSL Community Club Ltd, has submitted a request for Secretary’s Environmental Assessment Requirements (SEARs) for the project.
The early scoping report outlines the development of a new modern club venue, alongside the provision of new housing, including affordable, as well as retail, commercial and medical uses.
The project, in the Georges River local government area, aims to “materially improve the club’s long-term viability” by creating a “more diverse and resilient mix” of income streams.
Mortdale RSL wants to move away from its reliance on gaming revenues as a dominant income source, the development scoping report said, and transition to a more “sustainable and community-focused operating model”.
The club is aiming to attract a broader cross-section of the community, including families, workers and visitors who may not have otherwise have engaged with the traditional club format.
“The proposal is not simply about replacing an older building; it is about repositioning the club as a more active, outward-facing and financially stable community asset,” it said.
However, the path to development has not been a smooth one.
A previous project for a mixed-use development was rejected by the Sydney South Planning Panel in 2022, which said its rezoning plans “lacked strategic merit”.
Proposed was 175 apartments across 13 storeys.
The new project was declared a State Significant Development after a recommendation by the Housing Delivery Authority in February 2025.
The site is partly zoned high density and partly local centre, and sits within the Mortdale town centre, around 200m from the Mortdale train station.
On the site are single-storey retail and low-scale residential buildings as well as the ageing club building.
If plans progress, the 4602sq m site would be transformed into a 20-storey project of 233 apartments, adding to the Georges River Council target of 6300 homes to be completed by 2029 under its National Housing Accord allocation.
The mix includes 20 one, 182 two, and 31 three-bedroom units. Thirty-nine would be affordable apartments and six of the three-bedroom units would be dual key.
The built form would rise from eight to nine storeys, to 20 storeys in a tower on the northern corner of the site.
It would include five levels of basement parking for 479 cars, as well as 2000sq m of communal open space.
The new club, retail units and medical centre would total 2735 sq m of floorspace.
The proposal requires a concurrent rezoning to amend the maximum building height and maximum floor space ratio, and amend the split zoning across the site.
The project, described as a “co-ordinated, financeable and delivery-ready proposal” designed by NOD Architects and Stanistic, would cost around $140.15 million, according to the scoping report.
It is the latest in a line of RSL club redevelopments, as the clubs look to alternative revenue streams and capitalise on their prime, central locations.
Wynnum RSL in Brisbane put out the call last week for a developer to help with its mixed-use precinct plans, as did Caloundra RSL last year.
In Greater Sydney, a 400-apartment masterplan put forward by the Smithfield RSL Club was approved earlier this year.
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