A series of developments is set to change the face of the coastal suburb, after years of stagnation.
THE approval of Cottesloe’s Ocean Beach Hotel redevelopment is significant for numerous reasons.
The project, comprising a 12-storey, 185-apartment complex and 120-room hotel, received the green light from the Western Australian Planning Commission, via the State Development Assessment Unit in late June.
This occurred more than three years after proponent Edge Visionary Living first met with representatives of the SDAU with its idea to revamp the ageing site.
The development, flagged at $220 million on the SDAU website, has an estimated $500 million end value.
It marks the first of seven projects largely along Marine Parade to be approved on the planning pathway, set up during COVID-19 for developments of state significance.
This followed years of stagnant progress along the coastal strip, with the local government vocally opposed to high-rise development.
Construction started on the $7 million Canteen Pizza redevelopment earlier this year, in another key milestone for the area.
With the pending approvals of further projects in the WAPC’s pathway, these developments represent the first steps in a lengthy journey towards change.
A new era
Edge Visionary Living managing director Gavin Hawkins has been keen to point out the significant gap the Ocean Beach Hotel, or OBH, is set to fill in Cottesloe’s market.
“It [will be] the first five-star hotel that will be built on the coastal part of Perth in 35 years, effectively since Rendezvous,” he said.
“The feeling we’ve got and messaging we got was that it’s well beyond time to bring some world-class amenity and accommodation [to Cottesloe].”
Edge Visionary Living is developing the OBH in conjunction with site owners the Quinlivan family.
Mr Hawkins told Business News the project was subject to a rigorous approvals process, including going through five design review panel meetings.
“Five meetings is not normal, you would normally have one or two, but because they knew there was a significant public interest and focus on Cottesloe, and there would be a lot of interest in it, they were pretty cautious,” he said.
“It’s been the most exhaustive, comprehensive approval process that we’ve ever been part of.” Mr Hawkins committed to getting the project off the ground within the next 36 months.
Further progress
Ground was broken on the $7 million revamp of Marine Parade’s Canteen Pizza site earlier this year, with the five-storey development to house eight dwellings, a restaurant and fast-food outlet.
The site’s owners, Wilson family, of BWC Corp, have lived locally for more than two decades.
Documents lodged to JDAP for Canteen stated that “the family’s aim has always been to improve the style, amenity and quality of the Marine Parade precinct for residents and visitors alike by developing the property and by keeping the development within the Town of Cottesloe’s height limits”.
Tom Letherbarrow is director of Space Collective Architects, which designed the Canteen redevelopment.
He told Business News the project marked a significant time in Cottesloe’s history.
“It is the first prominent development to happen along that strip in 40 years,” he said.
“[The Town of] Cottesloe is inherently conservative, and they pulled back for years, but it feels like the back has been broken and the wheels are in motion now.
“The Marine Parade we are going to see in 20 years is going to be very different to what it is now.”
Barry Baltinas plans to develop two adjacent apartment developments, at 120 and 122 Marine Parade, of seven storeys each.
The Perth architect purchased the former site with an existing approval in place for a 12-dwelling apartment complex, proposed by developer-builder Gary Dempsey.
The acquisition was at the centre of a legal dispute between the vendors, Perth-based doctors Julie Lai Wai Ng, Justin Jamie Peng Yan Ng and Michael Chinh Nguyen and Mr Dempsey, who claims the trio sold the site without warning and asked for financial compensation.
Mr Baltinas plans to proceed with the approved plans, with some proposed changes to the basement and first two floors of the building, and to vehicle access points.
Construction started on the Canteen Pizza redevelopment earlier this year. Photo: Nadia Budihardjo
The project, which is in the SDAU approvals process, has blown out by $3.5 million since it was initially approved in August 2021.
Construction is expected to start for 120 Marine Parade later this year. Plans for the neighbouring site, 122 Marine Parade, are being assessed by the Planning Commission, via the SDAU.
Mr Baltinas told Business News he was hopeful of gaining approval for the $27 million development, which includes eight apartments on six levels, a roof terrace, and ground floor café.
“We’re working as closely as we can to the planning guidelines to achieve the best outcome for the site and locals,” he said.
“We’re confident our architectural designs will be appreciated by the community and believe this is confirmed by the 88 per cent public support obtained during the public consultation period.”
Mr Baltinas said he and his team were “working through the detail design, documentation, pricing and approvals process with a view to be able to commence construction in the coming months” for both sites.
“Over this time, we’ve all become very closely wedded to this project … and understand this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” he said.
“It’s through this process of working closely together that we can best manage cost increases and labour shortages with as much ease as possible.”
Low-profile businesswoman Leonie Baldock, via Station Street Partners, has lodged an application to build apartments, restaurants, shops, a small bar and offices along Station Street in Cottesloe.
Details of the development are yet to emerge, but the Station Street entity is seeking changes to the local planning scheme to allow for height limits of the area to be revised from two and three storeys to up to 10.
A report prepared by Town of Cottesloe planning manager Wayne Zimmerman stated that the proponent has since amended its request to allow for 15 to 18 storeys on the 3,232-square metre site.
As of November last year, the council remained opposed to the height limit increase, despite the state government ordering the town to initiate the scheme amendment in May of that year. In the report, the council said it would be premature to support the proposed scheme amendment before the Cottesloe Activity Centre precinct structure plan had progressed.
Seapines Property Group, spearheaded by Utopia Financial Partners managing director Debbie Whiting, has proposed to build a six-storey development at 94 Marine Parade in 2018.
The site is home to an accommodation complex, known as Seapines, and Amberjacks.
Ms Whiting’s proposal was pulled and another application for the site was lodged with the development assessment unit pathway in December 2021.
The application comprises residential apartments, restaurant, shops and short-stay accommodation. However, the status of the application remains under wraps, with the proposal yet to progress to the next stage.
Business News has not received a response to its inquiries.
Cottesloe Beach is one of the state’s major tourist attractions. Photo: Nadia Budihardjo
Council view
Tensions between developers and the Town of Cottesloe have been laid bare during some of the discussions over high-rise projects along the coastal strip, and OBH was no exception.
The proposed redevelopment exceeds the eight-storey, or 32 metres limit imposed in the Town of Cottesloe’s Local Planning Scheme 3.
The town’s LPS3 sets a five-storey limit along Marine Parade but has other regulations over special control areas, including the OBH site.
Some in the community, namely the Cottesloe Residents & Ratepayers Association, have been vocal in their opposition to developments exceeding the LPS3 limits.
In 2021, more than 120 people urged the town council to oppose projects that were inconsistent with LPS3.
Residents who supported the development were heckled and booed at a heated meeting of Cottesloe electors.
The speakers at the meeting referenced Fiveight’s re-imagining of Indiana Teahouse, and the redevelopment of OBH and Seapines.
The viewpoint largely remains unchanged, with the town recently objecting to the OBH plan at a Planning Commission meeting in late June.
The commission approved the proposal but the town has indicated it would push back and seek legal advice on options available to seek a judicial review of the decision.
During the commission meeting, Cottesloe mayor Lorraine Young described the proposed OBH’s impact on the community as significant and detrimental.
However, Ms Young said if the project was to be approved, the applicant should financially contribute to the town’s foreshore management.
Her suggestion for the developer’s contribution was not included in the commission’s approval of the project.
Mr Hawkins said he and his team met with the council on several occasions, despite it not being a requirement.
“We tried to be very respectful of the local council and the officers,” he said.
“They (the council) obviously have a view; they were unanimously against it and the WAPC were unanimous in their approval for it.”
He said there was a lot of misinformation about the project’s height, bulk and scale.
Because of the setbacks, just 7 per cent of the project was over height, he said.
“It’s not like a straight up building where you have eight levels with the same floor plate; the floor plates down below are quite large, and then they narrow as they go up.
“It’s a little disingenuous, I think, to say that it’s four levels over height, because only a portion of the buildings are over height.
“We could have built a very stock standard eight-storey building on the site, and gone up to almost the same height, but it would have been covering a lot more of the area, and the overshadowing would have been the same as our design.”
He said the company conducted extensive community consultation, including random surveys, and found about 80 per cent of locals supported the project.
A different iteration of OBH was initially lodged to a joint development assessment panel in February 2020, but was withdrawn after consideration by the town’s design review panel.
The town has been seeking funding to deliver the Cottesloe Foreshore Redevelopment, which includes the redevelopment of Car Park 2 along Marine Parade.
The foreshore redevelopment, estimated to cost $22 million, comprises an amphitheatre of grass terraces, a lookout and fitness area, a pedestrian piazza and Car Park 2 being converted into mixed-use and short-stay accommodation with mezzanine car parking.
In March, the town council rejected all expressions of interest and voted not to continue with the Marine Parade upgrade.
Instead, it decided to get the town’s chief executive to seek further funding to progress the foreshore masterplan.
The town would chip in $5 million towards the $22 million project, in the hopes the state government would tip in $10 million.
A Liberal Party election commitment of $7 million towards foreshore redevelopment was promised but won’t eventuate after a Labor victory in the federal election in May 2022.
The town recently started a review of its local planning strategy, which covers land use and density in Cottesloe.
The Town of Cottesloe was contacted for comment.