Majura Avenue - Fenced Off

Hercsie said :

You gotta wonder about the extra load on the infrastructure.

7 houses = approx 21 people
42 units = approx 100+?

same size sewer pipes under the ground with 5 times the amount of shyte / waste water etc.

Wouldn’t it be good if there was a government agency that considered this sort of thing as a kind of application, maybe we would call it a development application.

You gotta wonder about the extra load on the infrastructure.

7 houses = approx 21 people
42 units = approx 100+?

same size sewer pipes under the ground with 5 times the amount of shyte / waste water etc.

HC I agree – and with today’s story about all certifiers being contracted out – I don’t hold out much hope that the dodgy builders might ever be held to account in our city…

However there are good builders that put up good dwellings – just no encouragement for there to be more of them!

AG Canberra said :

And just cuase someone makes money from it doesn’t make it wrong….

Of course not.

So long as they’re well built apartments and not shitty, as in built to the lowest possible price with little care for the consequence of such practice. Seems many developers just like to cash in on settlement day without a care for what happens in the next few years, let alone the next 20.

Funkylovebunny – this area has already been rezoned to allow this type of residential development – but not for commercial use. You will see that kind of development in Braddon when they get their act together – but mixed commercial/residential for Majura Ave would be innapropriate (and probably not commerially viable).

And I live in the area and enjoy a nice, quick walk to either Ainslie or Dickson, where there is a ton of services. It’s great!

HC is spot on. These houses have been gradually purchased over the past few years. This process gradually quickened in the last couple of years (according to allhomes).

The actual purchaser of these blocks got as many as they could all in a row (7) and then had an architect draw up some plans for high density apartments. This went into the normal development application process and was approved. Then, the purchaser of this land then sold the whole lot to a builder with the approved DA.

This is a remarkably easy way to make an absolute shedload of cash (for those who already have it!). For example one house was purchased in 08 for 725K and sold to the builder for 856K. Some of the blocks went for 935K!

The plans say about 6 units on each block. There are seven blocks, so that’s 42 apartments. In the next suburb over in Braddon they go for around 400K each. So the builder has bought the land for $7 million, and could sell for $16.8 million minus construction costs.

Thanks AllHomes.

What GFC??

But what’s the benefit/point of living in an apartment or medium-high density if you can’t walk to the shops or other services?? They should have rezoned Majura Ave to allow shops on the ground level (with apartments above) to create some commercial activity and life on the street.

This development has now set a precedent; expect to see a lot more of these developments in the area.

Not really a bad use of the space…..

These places will house more people and use less energy than the ten homes already there. The residents will use less fuel to get to work in the city (compared to the residents of Gungahlin) – geez – they might even bus it or ride a bike!

As long as the apartments fit in with what’s around there what’s the problem?

And just cuase someone makes money from it doesn’t make it wrong….

Demolish houses.

Build some shitty apartments.

Make lots of money.

Repeat ad nauseum.