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Shop owners in Sydney’s east say the state government’s controversial plan to build thousands of homes around the future Woollahra train station would draw much-needed crowds to the suburb’s sluggish high street, but warned it would do little to attract young people or essential workers.
The NSW government on Tuesday revealed draft plans to dramatically transform the skyline with 9400 dwellings in high-rise towers as tall as 34 storeys as part of a plan to ramp up housing supply.
Resident and business owner Erin Stevenson said adding thousands of homes would “absolutely ruin the essence” of Woollahra. She said the rezoning would not meaningfully solve Sydney’s housing affordability crisis unless the government provided below-market housing for essential workers.
“It’s not going to be affordable housing, that is an absolute joke. They’re going to be multi-million-dollar properties that more wealthy people are going to buy, living on top of each other.
“It’s a massive payday for developers, I’m sure the politicians are being pat on the back … Woollahra’s a really beautiful, special heritage area, and it’s very much a village for the people who live here,” Stevenson said.
The government’s plan will involve rezoning mostly residential streets with two-storey homes and low-density unit blocks to accommodate for taller towers around Edgecliff station and 32 storeys around a to-be-built Woollahra station. Building heights would vary, transitioning to five to eight storeys on the fringes of the 168-hectare precinct.
While Woollahra’s main shopping strip on Queen Street will remain untouched, some buildings directly behind it and nearby will be rezoned for larger buildings, something shop owners say will dramatically transform the area. But not everyone agrees on how that change will be felt.
Ribekka Goldy has worked at fresh food store Pasta Pantry for 11 years, and has noticed a steady decline in foot traffic and young customers since 2023. Goldy said residents moving into new apartments would provide a much-needed injection of life to Queen Street, pointing to multiple shops which had closed over the years and moved elsewhere for cheaper rents.
“Rent is getting higher, [landlords] know businesses aren’t doing so well, but they couldn’t get rents lower because it would affect their return as well,” Goldy said.
“But when you develop, it’s going to change the dynamic and character of the area. I’ve known some regulars from when they were in high school, and now they’re working and still buying coffee here. Some have moved out, but their parents still live here, it’s like a village.”
While barista Raysen Tjanersen agreed thousands more residents moving in could be a boon for business, he said a new town centre with a supermarket, pharmacy, and potentially a library opening up around Woollahra station could potentially lure shoppers away from Queen Street.
“I think there’s going to be a little bit of an impact, but for we’ve opened for years here, and it should be fine since most of our customers know us and grab stuff from us regularly,” Tjanersen said.
The government’s proposal includes a 3 per cent affordable housing contribution in perpetuity, or 15 per cent in selected buildings.
Premier Chris Minns conceded the rezoning was unlikely to combat Sydney’s affordable housing crisis.
“I’m not going to lie to you – this is not a proposal to solve Sydney’s affordable housing problems, and if this was the only thing we were doing, we’d deserve to be knocked for it, but it’s not,” Minns said on Tuesday.
The 9400 homes would be built over the next 20 years, with 40 per cent of new homes to be delivered within 200 metres of the Woollahra heavy rail station to open in 2029.
The Liberal-dominated Woollahra Council lashed the proposed rezoning as a “disaster”. The council previously proposed an alternate plan for 3600 units instead of 9400.
The train station redevelopment would open up access for residents to other areas in Sydney and vice versa, but would be “polarising” for residents, Marshall Flanagan from George’s Cellar said.
“I’m never going to argue against additional customers, we’re just a new store. However, I’m sure from a community point of view there is a fine line to be drawn in the sand in terms of increasing population, what the demographic represents, and what it will bring to the community,” Flanagan, who lives near Edgecliff, said.
“What happens when you’ve got high density living over there? The feel and the energy of a street could be compromised.”
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Cindy Yin is an urban affairs reporter at The Sydney Morning Herald.Connect via email.From our partners
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