Crown Group's Eastlakes Live promo image.
In Photo essay - a taste of Eastlakes (22 January 2013) I described the quaint little Sydney suburb and shopping center just down the road (it's about a ten minute walk) from where I have been living. My affection for the suburb will be clear.
Crown Group has announced its full development plans for Eastlakes. Grandly called Eastlakes Live, the $1 billion development will replace the existing shopping centre with a new shopping centre with 534 high end apartments on top.
"They all say it it (Pagewood Green)is an over-development...But there must be authority. If the authorities say this is right then its right. People will all the time complain. Not only I but all the people who buy here, they are very happy too. And they pay. Never mind people who talk and don't pay......It (traffic) is not a big problem because as you know there is not much traffic. I don't think there is any problem." Meriton founder Harry Triguboff interviewed by the Southern Courier, reported March 7, 2018.
In Sydney's growth problems - light rail, Kingsford, Pagewood and Daceyville (29 August 2017) I reported on the transformations taking place just to the east of my current home including Pagewood Green. In February I reported (Sydney growth problems - Sydney Water's Eastlakes over-kill, 28 February 2018) on the proposed Sydney Water redevelopment just down the road from my place towards Eastlakes that would add 744 apartments.
I am actually not opposed to the principle of the Eastlakes redevelopment, although locals will miss the village feel of the current centre as well as the lower prices. Woolworths Eastlakes is presently the lowest priced supermarket in the area by a considerable margin. It's hard to see that surviving with inevitable higher rents combined with gentrification. However, it does make sense to increase density where an existing and somewhat old and shabby shopping centre is involved.
The general problem I have is that all these developments place emphasis on their access to existing parklands and leisure facilities as well as access to transport. This may be a valid point for one but not for three at a time when transport is becoming more congested and the parks and sporting fields more crowded. So far as I can see, none of the developments add anything to community infrastructure.
Mind you, they may not all proceed on the scale envisaged. Real estate prices in this area have finally gone off the boil with some lower prices and longer sales time.
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