Triguboff seeks Greenland Lachlan's Line tender documents in Urbangrowth courtcase

Triguboff seeks Greenland Lachlan's Line tender documents in Urbangrowth courtcase
Jonathan ChancellorDecember 6, 2016

Meriton's Harry Triguboff has commenced proceedings against the NSW government's transformation arm UrbanGrowth.

It involves grievances around UrbanGrowth excluding Meriton from the tender of two residential super lots in Sydney's north shore.

Mr Triguboff previously sued UrbanGrowth in 2015 for excluding Meriton from the tender of the 1.5-hectare properties at "Lachlan's Line", the northern end of the North Ryde Station Priority Precinct for residential development.

Now Triguboff is going to the courts to gain access to tender information and documents under the Government Information (Public Access) Act after UrbanGrowth allegedly refused access under the Act.

The Lachlan’s Line project was announced by the NSW Government in 2013 as part of the NSW Government’s North Ryde Station Precinct. The new contemporary urban village will provide approximately 2,700 homes for around 5,000 residents.

"UrbanGrowth is responsible to get the best deal for the people of NSW," Harry Triguboff said.

"I would've thought they would welcome the opportunity to show everyone what a good job they are doing," Mr Triguboff said.

The site in question, known as Lachlan’s Line in Macquarie Park, was sold by UrbanGrowth to the Chinese developer, Greenland Investment (Australia) Pty Limited.

The current proceedings come after UrbanGrowth refused to provide any documents in answer to a formal application by Meriton under the Act. 

Meriton's General Counsel, Joseph Callaghan, said the current application was not an attempt to revive the earlier Supreme Court proceedings but about "ensuring a fair and transparent tender process".

The successful bidder of the two lots, Chinese developer Greenland, has applied to join the proceedings to allegedly block Meriton's request for access.

Greenland won the tender offering $190 million. It has since commenced presales at the $800 million 800-apartment project on the combined site known as "nbh". Meriton noted no settlement funds had yet been paid by the developer for the land.

This year two further high density superlots were offered for sale as one package via an expressions of interest campaign through Colliers International.

UrbanGrowth NSW's  second stage land release at Lachlan’s Line included an affordable housing offering which must be purchased by a community housing provider, or a private developer in a joint venture or similar.

Bates Smart had prepared the concept design for around 172 apartments and the third site of 96 affordable housing apartments.

Jonathan Chancellor

Jonathan Chancellor is one of Australia's most respected property journalists, having been at the top of the game since the early 1980s. Jonathan co-founded the property industry website Property Observer and has written for national and international publications.

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