Plans to build 800 new flats in town centre
By Tara O’Connor, Local Democracy Reporter
A council has met with developers regarding plans to build a new block of almost 800 flats in a town centre.
Build-to-rent developer, Greystar, is looking to build a new pair of towers in Croydon town centre. The company is behind the two other tallest developments close to East Croydon railway station.
Councillors discussed a pre-application from the developer at a meeting on Thursday for nearly three hours. It is for two towers of 47 and 32 stories tall which would be made up of 783 flats and include 1,600 square feet of office space.
The plans are for the corner of Wellesley Road and Landsdowne Road. It would see a hostel, a hotel and a fitness centre demolished to make way for new towers.
Greystar bought the site in October 2022 from Guildhouse Rosepride. The previous owner had permission for a huge development of two towers of 68 and 41 storeys.
Greystar is also behind Ten Degrees close to East Croydon railway station- two towers of rented flats at 44 and 38 stories. It is also in the process of building another pair of blocks next door in College Road, a development of more than 900 flats across buildings of 50 and 31 stories tall.
At the meeting, Councillor Sean Fitzsimons raised concerns about the height of the building, while Cllr Clive Fraser said he thought the two buildings were too close together and “very tall”. He added that he thought the open space provided was quite small.
Richard Fox, from HTA Design, which has designed the development, said: “In terms of the overall height, this development is in Croydon town centre, equidistant between East and West Croydon stations.
“It is right that you focus density in this area rather than push it to the outskirts where you are going to take way from wider family housing.”
Cllr Luke Shortland said he wanted the developer to consider how the buildings would look when it wasn’t a “lovely sunny CGI day”.
Pictured top: The site of the approved One Landsdowne towers has been bought by Greystar (Picture: Tara O’Connor)