Extra building height allowed in development approval for 27 Prince Street North Cronulla

The property at 27 Prince Street will become a five-storey apartment block, with four "generously sized" units, one of which will be on two levels, a swimming pool and basement parking.

The old block sold for more than $10 million in 2018, a record figure for Sutherland Shire at the time.

Owners of the six units each pocketed between $1.5 million and $1.8 million.

A development application (DA) for the proposed project, with an estimated construction cost of $6.7 million, was lodged with Sutherland Shire Council two years ago.

The DA has been the subject of several modifications as well as a deferred decision by a planning panel until the go-ahead was given this month.

The panel allowed a variation to the prescribed maximum height of the building, which was opposed by some existing apartment owners in Prince Street.

"The panel agrees that the written request demonstrates that compliance with the development standard is unnecessary in the circumstances of the case and there are sufficient environmental planning grounds to justify contravening the development standard," the decision said.

"Further, the Panel considers that the proposed development will be in the public interest because it is consistent with the objectives of the height of buildings development standard and the objectives for development within the SP3 Tourist zone in which the development is proposed to be carried out."

Prince Street has largely been transformed as a result of rezoning in the council's 2015 Local Environmental Plan (LEP).

An independent inquiry into the controversial draft LEP supported the Prince Street rezoning.