Level 33 proposes 1,263 homes in four Kellyville towers near metro

Level 33 is proposing four residential towers and 1,263 homes at Samantha Riley Drive in Kellyville, and the state significant development (SSD) application has reached Response to Submissions. It is a proposal, not an approval, and the Planning Minister’s delegate has not determined it. For owners of nearby sites, the assessment will show how much height the state will back near Kellyville metro.

Why it matters

The tallest tower would reach 39 storeys. The site at 301 and 301B Samantha Riley Drive is a 2.1 hectare vacant block about 200 metres from Kellyville metro station and roughly 30 kilometres from the CBD, according to The Urban Developer.

That distance to a station is what makes the scale arguable. A scheme of this size in The Hills Shire would reset what the market treats as achievable near the metro line, for both land pricing and for the next owner of a nearby site. The Urban Developer, which named Level 33 as the proponent, described the Kellyville proposal as strikingly similar to a Level 33 mixed-use project in Wollongong, which suggests a repeatable product rather than a one-off.

The planning record itself does not list an applicant. The developer attribution here rests on The Urban Developer’s reporting of the site at 301 and 301B Samantha Riley Drive, which matches the address referred to in a submission attached to the record.

The numbers

The NSW Planning Portal record for SSD-99622708, titled “Samantha Riley Drive - Mixed use development”, sets out the following:

• 1,263 dwellings, including 10 per cent affordable housing.
• Four residential towers of 23 to 39 storeys on a podium of three to six storeys.
• Assessment type: state significant development, housing category.
• Council area: The Hills Shire.
• 58 documents in the environmental impact statement (EIS) set, plus one Response to Submissions document and ten items of agency advice.
• Nine submissions, including one from The Hills Shire Council.

The record shows no capital investment value and no milestone dates, so we are not stating a lodgement or exhibition date. The Urban Developer put the project at $394 million. That is the outlet’s figure and we have not been able to match it to the record. At that price, 1,263 homes would work out to a little over $311,000 a dwelling, which looks light for towers of this height and is a reason to treat the figure as indicative until a formal capital investment value is published.

The Urban Developer’s headline refers to 2,400 homes across Kellyville and Wollongong combined. The visible text of that article did not give the Kellyville count, so we use the record’s 1,263.

What’s next

Response to Submissions means the applicant has answered the comments received on exhibition. The department’s assessment is the next stage on the record, followed by a recommendation and then a determination. No determination date appears on the page.

Watch the assessment report for how the department treats the upper end of the height range, and for what The Hills Shire Council’s submission asked for on traffic, open space and the affordable housing share. Those are the points most likely to move the tower count or the storey cap before a decision.

For the wider picture of what is being proposed across the city, see our Sydney hub. The editorial desk will update this report when the record moves to assessment.