Decision details

It is resolved that:

(A)       Council note that a Town Hall Square within the block bounded by George, Pitt, Park and Bathurst Streets forms part of the continued transformation of Central Sydney and has been a long-term vision for this Council for over 40 years;

(B)       Council note that there is an allocation of a capital works budget of $150M for the delivery of the Town Hall Square project included in the draft FY26 Long Term Financial Plan;

(C)       Council note that the financial implications associated with the delivery of the Town Hall Square project that are currently known are included in the draft FY26 Long Term Financial Plan and are detailed in the Confidential Attachment B to the subject report;

(D)       Council note that the Town Hall Square project area is as defined in the Sydney Local Environmental Plan 2012 which includes the properties 532-540 George Street, 542-544 George Street, part 546-552 George Street, 5-7 Park Street, 295-301 Pitt Street, 303-305 Pitt Street and 307 Pitt Street as per Attachment A to the subject report;

(E)       Council note that Council has acquired 6 of the 7 buildings required for the development of the Town Hall Square and that the remaining building to be acquired by Council is Lot 13 in Deposited Plan 80276 (Folio ID 13/80276), known as 542-544 George Street, Sydney;

(F)        Council note that the delivery of Town Hall Square is proposed to be accelerated, such that demolition works are targeted to commence by early 2028;

(G)       Council note that the proposed acceleration of the delivery of the Town Hall Square project justifies commencing a process for the compulsory acquisition of 542-544 George Street, Sydney;

(H)       Council note that the building at 307 Pitt Street houses City staff who will need to be relocated prior to demolition works commencing at Town Hall Square, and that this will be subject to a separate project;

(I)         Council note that the buildings owned by the Council within Town Hall Square contain tenancies that will need to be vacated prior to demolition works commencing;

(J)        Council endorse commencing the compulsory acquisition process with respect to the required interests in 542-544 George Street, Sydney for the purposes of the proposed Town Hall Square in accordance with the Land Acquisition (Just Terms Compensation) Act 1991 (NSW) (Just Terms Act) by issuing opening letters and seeking to negotiate with the relevant interest holders;

(K)       Council endorse the development of a concept design for Town Hall Square as described in the subject report for the purposes of engaging design consultants, noting a concept plan will be submitted to Council for concept design approval once developed; and

(L)        authority be delegated to the Chief Executive Officer to negotiate, execute and administer variations and surrender of leases, licences or other agreements and related documents as may be required to support alignment of the accelerated delivery of Town Hall Square.

Carried unanimously.

X118741