The building is not coming down. It will be refurbished first with amenities such as lifts and a gym added, then extra levels of apartments in a second stage under the state’s low and mid-rise housing reforms. The finished product is aimed at young professionals.
It is one of the first deals struck on the harbour side of New South Head Road since those reforms came in. Competition for the site was strong and it was secured on a shorter settlement, which allowed the vendor to pass the proceeds to his children sooner.
Tas Costi and Simon Cohen acted on the purchase. “Double Bay was almost a market that you couldn’t buy into,” Costi said, pointing to zoning that until recently kept most of the suburb’s residential streets out of reach for a purchase of this kind. There is very little in Double Bay that is already amalgamated, so sites that can take density without a knockdown are rare.