One of the last pieces of the over-station development puzzle has fallen into place at Sydney’s Crows Nest, with developer Third.i and real estate private equity group Phoenix Property Investors emerging as the buyers of two major sites.
The pair have won the contract for the air rights above Crows Nest Station and will undertake two towers, adding to the new buildings sparked by the city’s new metro lines.
They will develop a 21-storey office tower on the corner of Pacific Highway, Hume St and Oxley St, and a 17-storey residential complex on the corner of Pacific Highway and Hume St above the station.
The first site, referred to as Lot A, will house the commercial and retail development, and will have a focus on health and wellness. The second site,Lot B, will be the mixed-use site, with ground-floor retail with a residential complex, and will capitalise on Crows Nest’s emergence as a residential hub. The new buildings will take advantage of their access to the under-construction station and, when complete, will add to another planned tower. AW Edwards, the station contractor, is delivering a nine-storey office building on the corner of Hume Stand Clarke St.
The station is slated to open next year. Over-station towers are already planned at Victoria Cross, Barangaroo, Martin Place, Pitt St and Waterloo stations.
The Third.i venture acquired the site via private treaty with Sydney Metro and the NSW government. It was negotiated by Third.i head of acquisitions Florian Caillon and Sydney Metro’s commercial team.
“Third.i is extremely excited to commence a relationship with Sydney Metro and the NSW government and work with them to deliver what will be an outstanding, market-leading project for the Sydney region, ”firm co-founder and director of acquisitions Bob Huxley said.
“We have an established network of retail operators, and have already had a number of world class businesses express an interest in pre-committing to space at the Crows Nest over station development, which is just incredible. It really demonstrates the demand and need for this type of development in Sydney’s Lower North Shore.”
The project marks the fifth joint venture for Third.i and Phoenix Property Investors. Phoenix head of Australia Trent Winduss said the company had a strong track record of success with its projects with Third.i, especially on Sydney’s North Shore.
“This includes the selling out of the major residential project Balfour Place in Lindfield as well as the sale of the Blue & William commercial precinct in North Sydney to Lendlease that was acquired by Keppel REIT, ”he said.
The acquisition brings Third.i’s overall project pipeline to more than $4bn across Australia and Britain.