A billionaire property developer has fired off an ominous warning as his company sets its sights on a third attempt to redevelop a beachside suburb.
Meriton has launched a fresh bid to build a massive high-density development in Little Bay in south-east Sydney, a rezoning proposal which previously consisted of 1,900 units up to 22 storeys that has already been rejected twice.
The property giant has used a recently launched NSW government housing scheme to bypass the local council and independent planning panels.
The Department of Planning recently notified Randwick Council plans had been lodged but didn’t include further details about the proposal or applicant.
Meriton was founded 60 years by Harry Triguboff, who believes the controversial Little Bay proposal is crucial to addressing the critical housing shortage in Sydney.
Meriton has lodged a third attempt to build at least 1,000 new homes in Little Bay. Pictured is a previous artist impression of the proposal for up to 1,900 apartments
The billionaire issued a blunt warning that housing supply will get worse unless developers were given the green light to build.
‘If the government needs housing so much then they should approve it,’ Mr Triguboff told the Sydney Morning Herald.
‘I don’t apologise, they can go to hell. They want production, they have to make sure I don’t go broke.’
Meriton told the publication the amended plans are ‘substantially smaller’ than the 1,900 units sought previously, adding it needs approvals now to start building.
His company currently builds an estimated 2,000 apartments in Sydney every year.
Daily Mail Australia has contacted Meriton for comment.
Meriton lodged its new plans under the state government’s recently launched Rezoning Pathways Program, which aims to unlock land for 70,000 new homes in ‘fast growing’ areas by next year.
Property giant Harry Triguboff said the NSW government ‘can go to hell’ if Meriton’s Little Bay redevelopment proposal isn’t approved
NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet said the government would initiate 10 land rezonings with most earmarked in western Sydney, kilometres away from Little Bay in the city’s south-east.
‘This is all about accelerating the rezoning of key housing areas to make more land development-ready for new homes,’ NSW Planning Minister Michael Roberts added.
Developers that applied to be part of the pilot program must include a minimum 1,000 new proposed dwellings in metropolitan areas to be considered.
News of Meriton’s renewed proposal has already sparked outrage from Randwick mayor Dylan Parker, who described it as ‘scandalous to the extreme’.
‘Giving mega-developers like Meriton multiple rolls of the dice to destroy a beautiful coastline is offensive enough but to do so by keeping communities in the dark and gagging public servants is scandalous to the extreme,’ he told Daily Mail Australia.
The beachside suburb of Little Bay (pictured now) is gearing up for a third round of battles against property developer Meriton
Local state Maroubra MP Michael Daley is also furious.
‘This outrageous behaviour clearly demonstrates that a lack of planning merit and the views of the community mean nothing to the NSW Liberal Government,’ he told Daily Mail Australia.
‘This development is so over the top it needs to be killed and stay dead. It must not be revived by the Liberal Government like some sort of giant, concrete zombie living on terrorising community.’
The quaint beachside suburb is currently home to just under 5,000 residents, according to the 2021 census.
Meriton’s plans for Little Bay were rejected by the council in 2020 and then by the state government-appointed Sydney Eastern City Planning Panel.
Meriton sought to build a hotel, shops and almost 2,000 new apartments in buildings up to 22 storeys high.
‘Council accepted the assessment by its staff that the proposal lacked strategic merit and was inconsistent with existing planning strategies for the area,’ Randwick Council stated at the time.
‘It was also considered that the proposal was too bulky, too tall, would have adverse view impacts, overshadowing and importantly detract from the scenic coastal character of the area.’
Then mayor Danny Said added: ‘This is a seriously flawed proposal by Meriton and a massive overdevelopment of a very sensitive site. How anybody could think building 1,909 units in towers up to 22 storeys on a site zoned for just 450 units in buildings up to 5 storeys high is beyond me.’
Meriton founder Harry Triguboff hasn’t given up on plans to rezone parts of Little Bay
Mr Triguboff has previously slammed planning bodies while lamenting about his struggles with developing in Sydney, declaring the city was ‘closed for business’.
He blamed his difficulties on red tape and NSW councils being stringent with approvals.
‘If (councils) want buildings to continue at the right rate, they have to approve property,’ he recently told a chamber of commerce lunch.
‘With the prices increasing or rising the way they are. I think that people will go a lot more quickly.
‘The way I built so many apartments in Sydney for so many years is because sometimes you have a good council, sometimes you have a good planning boss.’
He saw apartment buildings as the only foreseeable ‘way out’ of Sydney’s housing crisis.
