Caritas developer’s change of heart

BY ALISON MASSEY
An application to modify the plan to the redevelop Caritas in Darlinghurst has been submitted to the NSW Department of Planning.
According to the report accompanying the DA, the site’s owner St Hilliers, identified a number of “unresolved issues and refinements”.
As a site of state significance, concept plans and amendments must be submitted to the NSW Department of Planning for approval prior to submitting a development application to council.
St Hilliers bought the Caritas site with an approved concept plan from St Vincent’s Hospital for $20 million in July 2007. The site’s current tenant is the hospital’s Mental Health Services unit. It will remain on the site until September 2010. It will then move to a new mental health unit which is currently under construction on the main St Vincent’s campus.
The site and its redevelopment concept plan were sold by the hospital in order to fund the new facilities.
The original concept plan proposed the conservation of the main building and Caritas cottage, as well as the demolition of other buildings on the site to make way for the development of a five to seven storey residential building containing 112 apartments, ground-level commercial space and basement parking for 142 cars.
Pedestrian thoroughfares through the site were also proposed.
The proposed changes include: a revision of building massing to improve curtilage [waiting on confirmation of what this actually means] around Caritas house; tree replacement; an increase in floor to ceiling heights in the apartments; a reduction in the number of apartments (down from 112 to 100); and removal of the pedestrian thoroughfares.
As part of the submission, the Department of Planning recommended St Hilliers meet with key stakeholders within the community to discuss the proposed changes.
Jo Holder from the Darlinghurst Residents Action Group (DRAG), attended one of these meetings. She says although DRAG has concerns about some of the proposed modifications ‘ particularly the removal of the pedestrian thoroughfares and the loss of public access to the gardens ‘ the main issue remains the nature of the development itself.
“What they’re proposing is just a gated community,” Ms Holder says. “It’s a very standard, off the shelf, Pyrmont Point kind of community.”
Ms Holder says the site is located within an important heritage precinct, and is regarded by the community as a place of historical significance.
“It is a beautiful, intact, civic quarter and that identity should be kept as much as possible ‘ and that is utterly opposed to a walled, high-rise community. One is about public access, and the other is about public exclusion.”
DRAG asked St Hilliers to hold a public meeting to address community concerns over the development. The group is also calling on the City of Sydney to take a stronger interest in the issues surrounding the redevelopment, and to implement stronger heritage controls on the precinct, which includes the old Darlinghurst Gaol.
St Hilliers were not available for comment before The City News went to press. Chief executive Tim Casey has previously said he aims to continue involving the Darlinghurst community as the development progresses.
The modified concept plan is now being assessed by the NSW Planning Department and is on public view until December 19.