IPM win approval for apartment development in Mona Vale Town Centre
Northern Beaches developer IPM has secured planning approval through the NSW Government for an $95 million apartment development in Mona Vale.
The State Significant Development at 159-167 Darley Street West will comprise three six-storey buildings with 82 apartments, including 10 affordable housing apartments.
The approval was handed down by the NSW Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure, which considered the development an important addition to housing supply in an accessible location, while also pointing to its estimated $95.4 million direct investment and the creation of 210 construction jobs as key benefits.
PBD Architects, who also designed IPM's nearby Maya development in Mona Vale, is behind the Darley Street West project.
The approved scheme will provide 82 apartments across three distinct buildings. While each rises to six storeys, the design uses four-storey podiums with recessed upper levels in an attempt to reduce the perceived scale from surrounding streets.
Height had been one of the key issues raised during consultation, however the Department found the project complies with its maximum permissible building height of 21.175 metres under the Housing SEPP. It also found the three-building approach and recessed upper levels helped mitigate the project's visual impact and were compatible with the area's anticipated future character.
That future character was also important in the Department's assessment.
While objectors argued the project was inconsistent with Mona Vale's established lower-density character, the site falls within a Low and Mid-Rise Housing area under the Housing SEPP. The Department said the future character of the precinct was likely to comprise a broader range of residential densities, building heights and housing typologies.
It also found the proposal's six-storey built form appropriately distributed its bulk, while deep soil zones and landscaping would help retain the leafy character of the area.
Affordable housing played a significant role in the planning pathway.
Ten apartments, representing over 10 per cent of the project's overall gross floor area, will be affordable housing managed by a community housing provider for 15 years.
The site sits within the broader Mona Vale Town Centre, within walking distance of Mona Vale Beach and the retail and dining amenity around Pittwater Road.
The development will become IPM's largest in an already well-established Northern Beaches portfolio.
It recently completed Maya on Bungan Street, also in Mona Vale, delivering 33 apartments above six ground-floor retail tenancies, while construction is underway on Alaia in nearby Warriewood, a collection of 28 three and four-bedroom apartments.
IPM is also preparing to launch Snappermans in Palm Beach, set to become the suburb's first multi-residential apartment development in almost two decades.
Further south, the developer completed Como Coogee late last year, delivering 20 luxury apartments on Carrington Road.
Joel Robinson
Joel Robinson is the Editor in Chief at Apartments.com.au, where he leads the editorial team and oversees the country’s most comprehensive news coverage dedicated to the off the plan property market. With more than a decade of experience in residential real estate journalism, Joel brings deep insight into Australia’s evolving development landscape.
He holds a degree in Business Management with a major in Journalism from Leeds Beckett University in the UK, and has developed a particular expertise in off the plan apartment space. Joel’s editorial lens spans the full lifecycle of a project, from site acquisition and planning approvals through to new launches, construction completions, and final sell-out, delivering trusted, buyer-focused content that supports informed decision-making across the property journey
