Can you picture Campbelltown looking a bit like Surfers Paradise without the ocean?
The very tall apartment towers – over 20 storeys – would stand out from kilometres away.
And don’t think this is a pipedream.
The first picture is of a development application for a 21 storey building behind the building where I spent more than 10 years of my working life.
The address is 273 Queen Street, Campbelltown, but for me it will always be the Macad building, or as you knew it, the Macarthur Advertiser.
Anyway, enough sentimentality, and back to this proposal, which if it ever goes ahead, will transform our neck of the woods.
There will be two levels of commercial space and 101 apartments, and I have no doubt they will sell like hot cakes.
Location is the key and 263 Queen Street is a five minute walk to Campbelltown rail station.
It is also right next to Campbelltown Mall and within easy walking distance of the city library, the arts centre, the Catholic Club and much more.
The second picture is of the model for another high rise application, this one 10 storeys in 28 Cordeaux Street, near Mawson Park and St Peter’s Anglican church.
This one also has 105 units and commercial space included in the plans.
It also is very close to the station and other amenities.
Unfortunately, these and other proposals for apartment and commercial space towers have been gathering dust for a long time – in some cases for almost 20 years.
Some people argue that the developers behind these projects are waiting for a circuit breaker before starting to pour their money into such towers.
The only one who can provide such a spark is the council.
The argument is that if council used some of the proceeds from Menangle South, between $60 and $65 million, it would encourage developers to get stuck in.
Projects council could finance include a new civic centre precinct on the western side of the railway, alongside a Norwest type business park providing thousands of jobs.
If developers followed suit and built their towers along the length and breadth of Queen Street it would result in a massive boost to the local economy.
It would also resuscitate Queen Street, where the number of vacant premises is going up faster than any high rise tower.
Our third picture below shows the sad state of the once thriving City Arcade, with even the newsagent shutting shop recently.
But things can change around and will do if and when council realises that it needs to spend some money to attract money.
Looks like the sort of development that transforms into a crime spot as the years go by.
Well you are in luck there. This particular area is already a crime spot!
The developers will not have to wait long as the Liberal State Government has taken planning powers from councils and are setting up developer friendly “independent” planning groups are have been advertising for members to be “appointed’ so the locals will have no say. So here come 20 storeys or whatever the developer wants.
The tower of fire and shadows. Great modelling for solar access thee are not.
Massive heating bills and electricity loads.
When will people realise that we don’t need towers like this ugly block to increase density? Show me one European city with residential towers this high? We have 136,000 empty homes in Sydney and thousands of single story homes within 500m of an established train station. How about we fill those areas first before we allow this thing to be built 60km from the CBD.
and we “love” our Heritage …
It’s a bit unfair to present the City Arcade like this without mentioning that it’s been run down by the owner for years, and only now looks this bad and is about to be demolished for the rsl upgrade.
I don’t think many would argue against the need to upgrade Queen St, and maybe apartments and new shops & restaurants are the answer. I’d prefer if all buildings could be the same height as the council building, 5 or so storeys, then the surrounding hills are still visible to us all and the shadowing from buildings is not too large. But the height limits in C’town are higher than that AND less than this proposed skyscraper… So this proposal is over the top.