The Land Development Agency has sold its share in the Woden Green project after partner Hindmarsh offered to buy the government out.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
Woden Green, an area east of the Woden Town centre expected to hold about 1500 dwellings when completed, began as a joint venture in 2006.
It included plans for a 35-storey residential tower and a series of smaller apartment buildings.
While the parties agreed on the sale at the end of 2012, final payment was not made until late last year.
Hindmarsh paid just under $14 million for the government's 50 per cent share in the venture.
The LDA chief executive David Dawes said the Joint Venture Deed signed in 2006 had included a provision for the sale of land or any portion of it to either member.
An offer to buy the land was made and accepted with a deadline of final payment agreed for November 29 last year.
Mr Dawes said the ACT government would soon end its remaining joint-venture arrangements with developers in Forde and Crace as all the land had been sold.
The LDA confirmed last week it had decided to go alone in developing greenfields sites for housing in the future.
It would no longer sell a third of the land to developers and another third as joint ventures.
Hindmarsh and the LDA first displayed their plans for Woden Green in 2010.
At that time the estate plan included a 35-storey tower and three 20-storey towers.
The plans changed later in the year to remove the three smaller towers, although the high-rise building, described by architects at the time as the integral part of the plan, stayed.
To date two apartment buildings and a set of commercial medical suites have been developed at the site.
The Avoca apartment complex, with 179 units, was delivered as a joint venture between the company and the LDA.
The partnership also sold a site for a three-storey complex of 201 apartments to developers Amalgamated Property Group and Milin Builders and Developers.
Hindmarsh ACT development manager Brett Smith confirmed the Woden Green sale but did not want to provide further comment on the company's plans for the site.
"Hindmarsh has commenced finalising the delivery of remaining site infrastructure and is currently considering options for the remaining development sites within the estate," he said.
The proposed high-rise tower was one of two projects that would change the skyline in the Woden area if plans were approved.
Development applications for a 28-storey tower and two smaller towers known as Woden 9 were pulled by the LDA at the start of last year after community angst and concerns raised by the ACT Planning and Land Authority.
Mr Dawes confirmed the estate development plan was pending endorsement from the Economic and Sustainable Development Directorate and this involved only civil works.
"There are currently no intentions for the LDA to lodge development applications for buildings on section 9," he said.
