A property expert has suggested a radical plan to encourage more residents into the Sydney CBD . . . and it’s sure to raise the ire of Lord Mayor Clover Moore.
Rather than restricting the number of car spaces in new high-rise residential buildings, as is the policy of the Sydney City Council, Sam Elbanna says developers should be able to build as many car spaces as they believe their purchasers require.
“The Sydney CBD can support thousands more residents, and the demand is there for this attractive lifestyle. But each day potential apartment purchasers are disillusioned to learn that there are no spaces for their cars, even though they are prepared to pay handsomely for the privilege,” said Mr Elbanna, who heads up specialist CBD property company, CPM Realty.
Under current Council rules, the car parking ratio for a new development is a miserly:
· One-bedroom = 0.5 space
· Two-bedroom = 0.8 space
· Three-bedroom = 1.2 spaces
This means that virtually all one-bedroom units, and many two-bedroom apartments, miss out on a car space.
Mr Elbanna said all developers are frustrated at the Draconian policy on parking, knowing that apartments with secure parking are in great demand. “Many developers avoid areas controlled by the Sydney City Council for this reason.”
He argues that developers should be allowed to build as many basement car spaces in a new development as they think they can sell. “If they are prepared to build them, and it is safe to do so, then why not let them?
“Very few people are prepared to buy an apartment without a car space, and the vast majority of potential purchasers I deal with are prepared to pay $50,000 or $60,000 for a space.
“The irony is that for most of the time, cars sit idly in CBD parking spaces. Residents only use their cars when they travel out of the city. When they have a business or a social engagement in the CBD they catch a cab, public transport or walk, which is exactly what The Lord Mayor is trying to achieve. She is just going about it in the wrong way.”
Mr Elbanna, who has been marketing CBD property for the past 20 years, likens the Council’s approach to parking to that of North Sydney Council’s misguided approach to garbage when Ted Mack was in charge.
“Mr Mack removed all Council bins in the belief that people would take their rubbish home with them. The realty was that when people couldn’t find a bin they discarded the rubbish on the street. Within months the smelly, littered streets of North Sydney were proof of the folly of the idea, and Council reinstated the bins.
“Clover Moore’s utopian vision of people foregoing their cars is unrealistic; they simply buy in areas where parking is available.”
Mr Elbanna says if the Sydney City Council adopted his idea on parking, developers would rush to build new apartments in the CBD. “This would further enliven the city by bringing in more permanent residents, and help ease the chronic shortage of accommodation Sydney-wide,” Mr Elbanna said.
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