Air space above NSW Coroner’s Court in Glebe to be sold as NSW government seeks ambulance station developer
The state government has moved to sell the air rights for the NSW Coroner’s Court in Sydney’s Glebe and wants the buyer to develop the ground floor into central Sydney’s ambulance “superstation”.
Health Infrastructure NSW, which delivers the state government’s major health infrastructure projects, is seeking a development partner to redevelop the site at 42-50 Parramatta Road into the Central Sydney Metropolitan Ambulance Station, which will be retained by NSW Ambulance.
The chosen developer must also fund the construction of the ambulance station as part of the deal.
The site is set on nearly 3500 square metres in central Sydney. Photo: Supplied
In return, that developer will win the right to develop and acquire the future stratum lot above the building for its own project, which must be approved by Health Infrastructure.
The site is seen as the preferred site in central Sydney for an ambulance superstation under the $150-million Sydney Ambulance Metropolitan Infrastructure Strategy.
Under that strategy, a superstation is a larger ambulance station that can house more ambulance vehicles, as well as administration spaces and paramedic amenities.
The superstation is expected to account for about 950 square metres of the site’s permissible gross floor area, but that figure excludes the loading dock, ambulance parking and staff parking.
About 5167 square metres of gross floor area can be developed on the block, which occupies 3445 square metres.
Interior photos of the NSW Coroners Court in Glebe from 1986. Photo: Trevor James Robert Dallen/Fairfax Media
A Health Infrastructure spokesperson confirmed that they had appointed Colliers International to seek a development partner for the site, but did not intend to sell the property outright.
“This EOI (expressions of interest process) will explore partnering opportunities for an integrated development with health and other complementary multi-use functions, however there are no plans to divest the site.”
Colliers International’s James Cowan, which is marketing the property, declined to comment on the listing.
The site is zoned B7 business park, which allows developments including hotels, childcare centres, food-and-drink premises and offices.
Other uses, such as student accommodation, could be allowed on the property, which is opposite the University of Sydney, subject to a planning proposal.
The site, which has frontages on Parramatta Road and Arundel Street, has a maximum building height of 15 metres.
The land can be redevloped once the NSW Coroner’s Court, Forensic Laboratory Services and Morgue relocate to a new $91.5 million purpose-built facility in western Sydney’s Lidcombe, after almost 50 years in Glebe.
The current Glebe premises will be decommissioned once the new Lidcombe complex begins operating.
The new three-storey facility, which topped out in January 2018, was built on the former Lidcombe Hospital site and is expected to open in the second quarter of 2019.
It is double the size of the Glebe location and is the largest investment in coronial and forensic services in NSW’s history.
Expressions of interest for the Glebe site close on December 14.
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