A building in Sydney that's famous for its unsightly appearance is set to receive a renovation worth $20 million (£10.3 million).
This facelift for the building that is in Tamarama Beach is the signal of a future of renovations for other, similarly decrepit apartment blocks that are in and around the city, reports Domain.
Spearheading the changes to the building are the owners of the various units that span the height of the seven-storey block that has been referred to as an "eyesore".
The owners have spent the past four years battling with various bits of legislation to make the much-needed improvements to the building and have now signed an agreement that will allow them to do so.
Financing the project is the creation of an extra level of apartments on top of the Glenview Court building on Illawong Avenue. Plans are to create two penthouses, both of which will have optimum sea views and are expected to sell for $10 million each, which will see the renovations of the Tamarama building through to completion.
Christine Smetsers, the chair of the owners corporation, said: "I've already had calls from one Bondi block, asking me if I could help them do something similar with theirs."
This project looks like it's set to see a whole wave of regeneration throughout Sydney, which should have a positive knock-on effect to the state's property market.
Speaking on the owners corporation's decision to fund the project themselves, Ms Smesters commented: "We've decided to develop it ourselves so we make the profit rather than developers, as we want this to be an iconic building, and help other old buildings to transform themselves too."
A plan drawn up by award-winning architect Nick Tobias has suggested that the project should involve digging into the yellow Sydney sandstone beneath the building. From there, the idea was to sell the stone, to further finance the restoration project. In addition, digging up this stone would also create two levels of parking, which would add further value to the building once it's finished.
