Beijing Investor Pushes On with Inner-West Apartments

Beijing-based investment group Huajun has filed plans for a 52-apartment block in Sydney's Inner West after a series of court battles have held the project back.

The application by Huajun Investments now before the City of Canada Bay Council outlines a seven-storey tower at Strathfield that would replace detached houses now on the site. 

It has been a long time coming—the developer has weathered more than eight years of development process and court battles to get to this stage.

A previous proposal for the site was knocked back by the council and went to Land and Environment Court (LEC) in 2019 with the case detailing issues over the site and solar access, as well height control contravention.

Huajun also faced a pivotal court battle with adjoining land owner Al Maha over the project, as consent from the other landowner had not been obtained prior to the LEC outcome. 

The outcome was described as a “very important judgement” which laid out further requirements for the Commissioner of the LEC before the court could make any judgement on a development appeal case.

▲ A render of the proposal, designed by Olsson Architecture after going through a Design Review Panel.

Huajun went back to the drawing board in 2022 and held “rigorous” pre-DA meetings with the council, reducing setbacks, redesigning facades and internal apartment redesigns. 

This resulted in the current DA, which details a block comprising one, two and three-bedroom apartments, vehicle access from Leicester Avenue, and a communal rooftop and terraces.

The project is proposed for a 1858sq m site at 38-42 Leicester Avenue, in Wangal Country. 

The site is in the Strathfield Triangle, identified by the local government authority as ripe for urban renewal, offering retail and residential development “which capitalises on its proximity to Strathfield rail station, Strathfield town centre and the Bakehouse Quarter”.

The project has an estimated cost of $32 million and would deliver “a mix of apartment sizes to cater to a variety of household sizes and needs,” according to the DA submitted by Urbis. 

Strathfield is garnering increased developer interest after TODs were  finalised for North Strathfield and neighbouring Homebush.