Georges River set to oppose Landmark's 789-unit Hurstville tower

Georges River Council will tell the New South Wales government it does not support a 24-storey, 789-apartment tower proposed for Hurstville in its current form, with a draft submission to that effect due for council endorsement at a meeting on Monday 26 October. The submission follows the close of a public exhibition period on 21 October for a State Significant Development application that only the Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure, not the council, has power to approve or refuse.

Landmark Group Australia lodged the application for three properties, at 9 Gloucester Road and 420 and 430 Forest Road, at the western gateway to the Hurstville central business district. The proposal would lift height limits across the site from a range of 23 to 60 metres to a single 76 metre limit, according to theleader.com.au. Eighteen per cent of the 789 apartments would be affordable housing: 15 per cent for 15 years and 3 per cent in perpetuity.

Why it matters

A council submission carries no statutory power over a State Significant Development; the determination sits with the state government alone. But a council recommendation against a project on design grounds, lodged ahead of a determination the state has not yet made, still shapes what happens next, whether that is a redesign, added conditions, or a longer assessment. Georges River Council’s own planning report found the design fell short of the design excellence and city shaping outcomes expected for the site. The council is asking the department not to determine the application until those concerns are addressed.

This is not the site’s first contest between the council and a developer. The Land and Environment Court approved an earlier scheme for the same site, 349 apartments across buildings up to 18 storeys, after Georges River Council had objected to that proposal too, theleader.com.au reported. The new application submitted by Landmark Group Australia is more than double that unit count and six storeys taller, a comparison drawn from the two schemes’ own figures as reported by the outlet. Georges River Council has also recently lost affordable-housing density disputes elsewhere in its area: on 14 October 2026 the Land and Environment Court upheld two appeals under the Housing SEPP in-fill affordable bonus, adding a level of units at Blakehurst, within the same local government area as Hurstville.

The numbers

The current application proposes 789 apartments across 24 storeys, with 18 per cent, or roughly 142 apartments, set aside as affordable housing. It seeks a height limit of 76 metres for the site, up from a range of 23 to 60 metres under existing controls. The reporting reviewed did not state the floor space ratio.

Those figures sit against the scheme the Land and Environment Court approved for the same three properties: 349 apartments in buildings up to 18 storeys. No construction cost, capital investment value or State Significant Development application number has been published in the reporting reviewed for this story; readers wanting those figures should check the Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure’s own project page for the Hurstville site once it is listed.

What’s next

Georges River Council’s councillors are due to vote on endorsing the draft submission at Monday’s meeting, 26 October. If endorsed, the submission goes to the Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure alongside submissions from other parties made before the 21 October exhibition deadline. The department sets its own timeline for determining State Significant Development applications and has not published one for this site. Landmark Group Australia’s response to the council’s concerns has not been reported. Until the department rules, the application remains before it unchanged, and the council’s opposition is a recommendation, not a verdict.