Sydney developer Thirdi Group and joint venture partner Phoenix Property Investors have received approval for a $300 million office project in North Sydney.

The 10-level office building, located on an amalgamated site between 2-4 Blue Street and 1-5 William Street, will replace existing residential apartments across five buildings.

Thirdi consolidated the site into a premium mixed-use development site, lodging a development application for the site in October.

The developer has now seen its application for the 2,326sq m site approved in just under five months.

Thirdi’s Robert Huxley said despite the potential for the Covid-19 crisis to negatively impact planning, the fast-tracked approval had been reached after concise collaboration with the Sydney North Planning Panel.

“If there is a silver lining to the ‘Corona Cloud’ I believe the crisis has allowed all of us to work together and create an even better building,” Huxley said.

“We used the global pandemic to learn from the challenges that traditional office spaces were facing and ensure our building was designed in a way to deal with a similar crisis in the future.”

Thirdi sales and marketing director Luke Berry told The Urban Developer that the company would considers its options throughout construction and delivery of the Woods Bagot-designed complex, keeping a close eye on the unfolding Covid-19 crisis.

“In terms of holding onto the asset, or selling it, we will explore all options in the future,” Berry said.

“Our focus right now is to confirm our building partners, secure a tenant and start demolition by the end of 2020 so we can stick to our delivery program.

“After we achieve these milestones we are happy to explore potential fund throughs or other offers on the site.”

The proposal is set to produce upwards of 3,000 new construction and operational jobs in in the North Sydney and sits within close proximity to public transport consistent with the North District Plan.

Thirdi and Phoenix plan to start construction of the office project in early 2021 and aim to finish and lease it by early 2023.

The new A-grade office will yield about 15,000sq m of net lettable area.

Thirdi said the building’s key location near North Sydney’s bus and rail interchange, as well as the future Victoria Cross metro station, has drawn the attention of several CBD based media, healthcare and technology companies.

The office building will join other new office developments, the Nine-anchored tower at 1 Denison Street by Winten Property Group and Dexus’ new 100 Mount Street block.

Projects such as CBRE Global Investors’s 118 Mount Street project have now completed construction while Lendlease’s $1.2 billion Victoria Cross Tower over the Metro Station recently received approval.

Fund manager Investa, with joint venture partner Oxford Properties Group, is also pushing ahead with plans for a major a $500 million commercial tower between 105 to 151 Miller Street.

Other groups such as Mirvac have also used the strata renewal strategy to access commercial sites in North Sydney.

Last year, the country’s biggest residential housing developer Stockland picked up 118 Walker Street and 122 Walker Street, adjacent to its existing office building at 110 Walker Street, for a combined price of $121 million.