Smithfield RSL is planning to turn its club grounds and the land behind them into a precinct of around 436 apartments, a 168-room hotel and a new public square.
The 4.3-hectare site takes in the club at 88 Smithfield Road and 20-lots bounded by Neville, O’Connell and Brenan Streets – around 230m south of Smithfield Town Centre.
The club owns every lot except one. The land is mostly carparking, vacant lots and a handful of houses.
The site comprises mixed zonings. The residential land sits in a medium density zone capped at 9m and a hotel isn’t permitted on the club’s private recreation land zoning.
However, the RSL’s planning proposal rezones the entire site to high density residential, with heights rising to 51m and adds hotel accommodation as a permitted use on the club’s land. It has received gateway approval from the NSW planning department.
The masterplan steps buildings from 4-storeys at the edges up to 14-storeys in the centre of the site. The 10-storey hotel sits beside the existing club, alongside a 5-storey carpark, a medical centre of up to 485 sqm and a small shop.
The club was founded in the early 1950s when Norman McCarthy gave the local RSL sub-branch a block of land and sold it the land through to Neville Street for $160.
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