By ANNA USHER

A developer who paid more than $65 million for two Moruben Road apartment blocks now wants to knock them down and build a nine-storey tower in their place.

Mosman Collective revealed the hush-hush sale of 13 and 15 Moruben Road in March. The buyer, Made Property, has now revealed future plans for the 1,648 sqm site.

A development application lodged with Mosman Council on 9 June proposes demolishing both blocks to construct a nine-storey tower comprising 30 apartments, with three basement levels and 49 car spaces.

The build alone costs $61.5 million. Add the land, and the project tops $126 million.

Mosman’s own planning rules cap this corner block at two storeys and 8.5 metres. The state government’s new mid-rise housing rules let Made Property go far higher, because the site sits within 400 metres of the Spit Junction town centre.

The proposed building would stand 28.2 metres, more than three times the height Mosman would normally allow, and four times the floor space.

The extra size comes with a condition. Seven of the 30 apartments would be set aside as affordable housing, managed by Bridge Housing for 15 years.

Providing them is what unlocks the bonus height and floor space.

“The site offers amazing views over Balmoral and through the Heads, and Moruben Rd is definitely a prime location that is ripe for re-development,” one local real estate agent told Mosman Collective.

The two blocks hold 17 apartments between them. No. 13, on the corner of Punch Street, is a three-storey block of six.

No. 15 next door is a four-storey block of 11. Both are older brick walk-ups, one from the 1930s, the other from the 1960s.

Watch: 13-15 Moruben Rd plans:

Their owners sold up together last year, in a deal that took eight months to put together.

The new tower, if approved, would rise beside two heritage items: the listed house ‘Hendon’ at 4 Punch Street, and the heritage-listed divided road on Moruben Road. The applicant’s heritage report calls the new building a “neutral replacement” that would not harm either.

Sydney architect Luigi Rosselli designed the scheme.

“The high side of the street has multiple unit blocks, many of them dating back decades,” the real estate agent told Mosman Collective, “owners who get together and decide to sell are reaping the benefits of amalgamation.”

“For the 17 owners in both apartment blocks, this deal was a once-in-a-lifetime windfall.”

If approved, 13-15 Moruben Rd would be one of the first towers of its size to land in Mosman under the new rules.

The application is now before Mosman Council and has not yet opened for public submissions. Mosman Collective will let readers know when it does.