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Billbergia Group and Metrics Credit Partners are partnering to develop two 80-storey towers as part of a major mixed-use development that plans to reshape the Midtown precinct of Sydney’s CBD.
The proposed development is the first ever undertaken in the CBD by Billbergia, a prolific Sydney-based developer that is part of a syndicate developing a $25 billion mini city on a 90ha riverfront site next to Rosehill Gardens Racecourse in Western Sydney.
Through joint-venture vehicle Central Sydney Property, the partners have announced they have settled acquisition of the 6,000sqm site, which comprises eight lots amalgamated between 2015 and 2019 and bounded by Castlereagh, Pitt and Liverpool streets.
The site is said to be one of the largest in the CBD which the partners say unlocks “a rare opportunity to reshape Midtown into a world-class city precinct”.
The proposed mixed-use development will include luxury apartments, a high-end hotel, retail spaces and an enhanced public domain.
The 80-storey twin towers will deliver a total of about 600 luxury apartments and premium hotel rooms above a podium building complete with a ground-floor civic plaza and new retail space. The towers will be amongst the tallest in the Sydney skyline once complete.
Pedestrian access to the precinct will be enhanced via new laneways connecting Pitt, Liverpool and Castlereagh streets. The laneways will lead to a new civic square that the developer says will breathe new life into the precinct with outdoor seating, landscaping and integrated public art.
Metrics Credit Partners, an alternative asset manager with $22 billion in assets under management, previously partnered with Billbergia at 88 Walker, a mixed-use project in North Sydney.
“Our vision will transform this underutilised city block into a cutting-edge urban community with luxury residences supported by premium amenity, quality public domain and active placemaking,” says Saul Moran, development director at Billbergia.
“This mixed-use development is Billbergia’s first in the CBD and heralds the renewal of the Midtown district.”
The development has been in train for some time with the partners announcing that after an international design competition in 2018, they chose high-profile Sydney firm fjcstudio, in collaboration with Trias Studio, Aileen Sage and Polly Harbison Design, as lead architect for the project.
According to fjcstudio, the towers will feature “distinctive yet elegant architectural design” reflecting Sydney’s geometry and urban character, with a network of through-site links and intimate public spaces activating the streetscape.
“Our design proposal has a distinctive and forward-looking form but is also restrained, elegant and reinforces the geometry, urban structure and maturity of Sydney,” says Richard Francis-Jones, design director at fjcstudio.
“Fundamental to the urban character of the design is the fine grain orthogonal structure of the public domain and streetscape.
“The small footprint tower forms nestle into a network of through site links and intimate public spaces addressed and activated by a variety of low scale buildings - a city in microcosm.”
The project will deliver apartments with one-, two- and three-bedroom layouts, as well as a collection of penthouses offering views from Hyde Park to the harbour and over Sydney Heads.
Subject to securing relevant approvals, the partners expect demolition of the site to begin next year.
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