Bisa Property and Morris Property Group have lodged applications for Stuart Flats redevelopment

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Plans for close to 500 units on the former Stuart Flats public housing site in Griffith have been lodged with the ACT government's planning directorate.

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An artist impression of Bisa Property's development on the former Stuart Flats site. Image: Supplied

Canberra developers Bisa Property and Morris Property Group have submitted proposals for their respective sites, totalling 482 units. The former owns one block and the latter owns three.

The Daniel Bisa-led group, who previously developed the East Hotel, proposed 70 units for the 3695-square-metre Block 20 Section 39. The units would span two buildings of seven and four storeys. The seven-storey building would have 63 of the 70 dwellings.

There is a mix of one-, two- and three-bedroom units. Two-bedrooms would comprise the majority of units at 45.

Two levels of basement parking are proposed, accessed by Evans Crescent. There would be 133 parking spaces with 11 visitor spaces off site. A traffic report showed it would generate 300 additional trips per day.

As part of the application, a 65-year old English Elm tree would be removed. A tree survey by dsb Landscape Architects recommended the removal as the tree showed evidence of "inner trunk delay" and the tree was in a "phase of decline to senescence and to death".

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A perspective view of Morris Property Group's Stuart Flats redevelopment.

The papers said there was a previous submission made at the time of demolition to remove the tree but this was revoked.

It is estimated to cost about $31 million and subject to approval, the development, named Illume, is expected to be completed by mid to late 2021, according to the Bisa Property website.

The proposal would join Morris Property Group's planned 412 units on the former public housing block. Plans were lodged for the $133 million project, dubbed Renaissance, last month.

The Barry Morris-led group submitted three proposals for each of its blocks; 30 units for Block 6 Section 43, 100 units for Block 23 Section 39 and 282 units for Block 24 Section 39. The total area of the three sites is 18,757 square metres.

A 90-space childcare centre and medical centre are proposed for the 282-unit block. There are five buildings of varying heights on that block with the highest being seven storeys.

A single six-storey building is proposed for the 100-unit block but it would appear as seven storeys from the rear. The 30-unit block would also have one building, it would be three storeys on the portion fronting Stuart Street and six storeys at the rear.

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The demolition of the Stuart street flats in Griffith. Picture: Karleen Minney

Basement and ground level parking is proposed for 759 cars and an additional 60 kerb side car parks. The traffic report showed the development would generate an additional 372 cars in the morning peak and an additional 364 in the afternoon peak.

Stuart Flats, located opposite Coles Manuka, was sold at an ACT government auction in March. The decision was made to split the sale of the former public housing complex into four separate blocks to attract international buyers, but instead they were sold to local developers.

Morris Property Group paid $55.62 million for the three blocks and Bisa Property paid $8.25 million.

Demolition of the public housing flats began in June. Both developers had previously indicated the plans for the sites.