The Almost-Occupants of the Abandoned Ultimo Depot Site

BY ADDIE MORTON

Australia’s most densely populated suburb is about to lose its last large site owned by the ratepayers of Sydney as it currently goes to market.

The highest bidder will take over the Ultimo Depot site, located at 14-26 Wattle St, which has sat idle for decades. The City of Sydney has made it a condition of sale that new owner must build an 80-place childcare centre and a two-court indoor recreational centre as part of the redevelopment of the contaminated depot site.

It is anticipated that the site will be sold to developers who will build apartments, bringing thousands of people to the already densely populated area.

“There are many, many more families living in this area than planners predicted, and children and young people in this area need places to play,” Mary Mortimer, Convenor of Friends of Pyrmont Community Centre said. “There simply will not be enough sporting facilities to cater for all of the needs of the area.”

“It is public land and should remain in public hands,” Mortimer said.
The redevelopment of the Sydney Fish Market, which sits less than 200 metres from the depot site, is also expected to bring in many more new residents.

When the Market is moved, the current site will be home to around 2,760 new apartments. With the development of the Bays Precinct, the NSW Treasury has estimated that the area could see 16,000 new residents.

Increased population means greater pressure on the already crowded facilities. Children in the area will be pushed onto Wentworth Park for sporting activities, which is already heavily used.

In order to prevent overcrowded facilities, Mortimer believes the Ultimo Depot should be retained for public use. She says negotiation should continue with the Department of Education, the Department of Sport and Recreation and the City of Sydney to work up some way of providing more education and sport facilities on that site.

Elizabeth Elenius, Convenor of the Pyrmont Action, believes it would have made sense to delay putting the Depot on the market until drafts for the Bays Market District are released later this year.

“At the moment no one knows [exactly] how many new residents will come to Pyrmont when the Fish Markets move, and there is a current shortfall in local amenities, which will only be exacerbated when the Bays developments are constructed,” Elenius said.

Pyrmont Action asked for a delay from Council to allow community consultation on options for use of the site for community benefit, including for the current and future residents of Pyrmont and Ultimo, but was denied.

Now that the site is on the market, Pyrmont Action is focused on getting early consultation with the buyer of the property to ensure that the height and other features of the development do not exceed those imposed by the Local Environment Plan and the Development Control Plan. This includes zoning and parameters such as height, building footprint and floor space ratios.

“We are very much on our guard to make sure the Council does not go against those conditions,” Elenius said.
Following the redevelopment of the site, the developer will transfer ownership of the public facilities back to the City, allowing for these services to be delivered for the local community. Any sandstone found at the site must be harvested for future use in repairing heritage buildings around the city
“We have waited a long time for something to happen on the Fig/Wattle St depot site. We were badly let down when negotiations for the sale of the site to the Department of Education broke down,” Elenius said.

Back in 2014, the contaminated depot site was on track to become the grounds of the new Ultimo Public School. Although the City and State Government agreed on the value of the land and were finalizing negotiations on the outstanding issues of remediation costs, the NSW Treasury decided the site did not represent a value property.

The plan was revisited in December 2014, but once again an agreement could not be reached on the cost of remediation. The Department of Education walked away in June 2015 from a deal to buy the site for $74 million. The department claimed that with remediation costs, the site would cost up to $177 million.

To keep up with the growing population, it was thought that a new childcare centre and sports recreation centre would support the local community well. In 2016, the City’s Open Space, Sport and Recreation Needs Study recommended more in-door multi-purpose courts for inner-city areas, including Pyrmont.
“We’re getting a child care centre, which we’ve wanted for many, many years and we’re getting two full-sized courts. We currently do not have any full-sized courts in Pyrmont and Ultimo, and hopefully we’ll enable the development of sports clubs in the younger people which is a great thing for social cohesion,” Elenius said.