This article is from the Australian Property Journal archive
PROPERTY group Aqualand is moving forward with its plans to replace a North Sydney office block with a 46-storey build-to-rent tower, perched close to the North Sydney train station and new Victoria Cross Metro station, while the CBD’s first build-to-rent project has been officially opened.
Aqualand has lodged a State Significant Development Application (SSDA) with the NSW government for what would be North Sydney’s first build-to-rent project, to be built on the 1,641 sqm site of its existing commercial building at 146 Arthur Street.
Aqualand acquired the existing 13-level, 8,171 sqm office building at 146 Arthur Street in 2017 for $78 million from Chinese private trading firm General Nice Group. It unveiled its preliminary plans in August last year for a 40-storey build-to-rent project with 300 apartments, which has been muscled-up in its SSDA to 390 apartments above a ground floor retail and commercial precinct.
In the middle of the year, Aqualand announced it was planning a build-to-rent project and its first hotel just a few doors down, at its 132 Arthur Street property.
At the end of August, GPT turfed plans for an office tower at nearby 155 Walker Street, deciding to instead sell the site to a residential developer.
Aqualand said the Woods Bagot-designed proposal at 146 Arthur Street includes a three-storey articulated podium that “mimics small-scale adjoining buildings to reflect a village-scale street frontage”.
The podium will be created from locally sourced bricks using to distinguish them from the building above, and will feature internal mini laneways to allow for landscaping through and around the site and connect the retail spaces, residential lobby and amenities to the surrounding street network and the adjacent Doris Fitton Park.
A landscaped resident’s terrace will sit atop the lobby.
The ground level will feature a central spine with adjoining reception, resident’s lounge and separate library, flexible shared space, café space, restaurant space, mail room, inviting water feature, and a bicycle parking area. Level one will include several co-working rooms and additional flexible resident’s spaces, adjoining two terraces.
Underneath the podium, resident’s amenities will include a cinema room, gym, games room, kids’ play area, pool, sauna and spa, including a children’s shallow splash pool, change rooms and resident’s lounge, above three levels of car parking.
Build-to-rent apartments will feature from level two to 44, crowned by a second residents’ terrace, with amenities and views of Mosman and Sydney Harbour, over Neutral Bay.
Five apartments types include 80 sqm two-bedroom, 82 sqm two-bedroom, 50 sqm one-bedroom, 58 sqm one-bedroom, and 60 sqm one-bedroom offerings.
The tower’s rooftop will include another six bookable residents’ lounges, four including kitchens, that spill out onto a 245 sqm outdoor terrace.
“We’re aware the North Sydney commercial centre offers a highly connected alternative to Sydney’s CBD, with the current commercial property cycle shifting towards tenants wanting to move away from Sydney’s CBD, while simultaneously maintaining connectivity with it,” said Jin Lin, Aqualand’s group managing director.
“146 Arthur Street offers a highly attractive and connected opportunity to strengthen the North Sydney CBD as a major commercial centre in Sydney.”
Aqualand’s previous projects in the North Sydney council area include Aura by Aqualand and Blue at Lavender Bay, completed in June this year and 2021, respectively.
Meanwhile, Investa and Oxford Properties Group have officially opened their Indi Sydney project, the first purpose-built build-to-rent building in the Sydney CBD, located directly above the recently opened Gadigal Metro Station on Pitt Street.
Developed by Investa on behalf of owner Oxford, and delivered by CPB Contractors, Indi Sydney comprises 234 apartments, with a mix of one, two and three bedrooms, that will be home to over 500 residents.
Indi Sydney offers views over Hyde Park, the city and Sydney Harbour, and includes three levels of shared resident space including co-working meeting rooms; a wellness level with lap pool, spa, sauna, yoga space and gym; and a rooftop lounge and dining room with a kitchen and BBQ area.
The building boasts a 7-Star NatHERS energy rating and is targeting a 5-Star Green Star Design and As Built rating.
Back in the North Sydney region, Third.i and Phoenix Property Investors have just announced they are bringing build-to-rent to their Hume Place project in Crows Nest. Stage two will be delivered as a build-to-rent offering with circa 476 apartments, with around 60 units to be earmarked for affordable housing for frontline and key essential healthcare workers.
However, sweeping planning changes from the NSW government looking to boost supply in the face of a housing crisis has contributed to “confusion” in the state’s apartment market, and benefits of increased supply opportunities are unlikely to be realised until developer contributions are pulled back, according to Charter Keck Cramer.
