Private equity real estate firm Conquest has revealed its $250-million plans for an ageing shopping centre on Sydney’s North Shore after scooping up the asset for $68.8 million.
The Quadrangle Shopping Centre at Castlecrag is to be transformed into Queensbridge, a retail, dining and lifestyle hub including luxury apartments, dubbed 100 Edinburgh, [pictured, top].
The 5200sq m site 9.4km by road north of the Sydney CBD was sold by Stanley Quek, a former medical doctor and the founder of inner-city property sales and managers Greencliff, who acquired it in 2016.
Development approval was granted in December for the scheme after community consultation.
Conquest chief executive Michael Akkawi said Conquest planned to progress those plans.
The development will replace the existing centre with a supermarket, premium retail spaces and 38 high-end apartments.
“By Wednesday we were introduced to the deal to buy the site, on Thursday it passed our investment committee and by Friday we shook hands with Dr Quek and secured it unconditionally,” Akkawi said.
The Quadrangle Shopping Village has served as Castlecrag’s central retail hub since 1978 but has faced years of controversy regarding its redevelopment.
The Sydney North Planning Panel approved the project nearly 50 years after the centre opened.
The development is in one of Sydney’s most architecturally significant suburbs.
Castlecrag was designed in the 1920s by Walter Burley Griffin and Marion Mahony Griffin, the US architects who designed Canberra.
The couple formed the Greater Sydney Development Association in 1919-1920 and acquired 263ha of land for their visionary development.
Griffin subdivided the Castlecrag Estate in early 1921, and the first auction of lots was held in November that year. The Griffins moved to the suburb in 1925. Their design philosophy was revolutionary: roads followed natural contours rather than typical grid patterns, buildings were designed to blend with the environment, and extensive bushland was preserved.
The Quadrangle Shopping Centre opened on August 15, 1978, serving as “the Gateway to Castlecrag” for decades.
While it never completely closed, the centre had declined significantly over recent years. By 2023-2024, residents were petitioning for urgent action on the redevelopment, citing “a decline in community services and a sense of identity” during the “long drawn-out process.”
The development will feature 1150sq m of publicly accessible open space, including a piazza on Edinburgh Road designed for community events.
The project preserves 32 trees, including all street trees—just eight trees are to be removed under the latest design.
The plans include 163 parking spaces—100 for retail users, 55 for residents and eight replacing street parking.
Community reaction has been mixed. Of 421 submissions received regarding the development application, 121 supported the project, 98 supported with concerns, and 96 raised issues without opposing it.
Construction is expected to begin in coming weeks and an onsite experience centre is slated to open soon.
Conquest is also making its mark elsewhere with its $88.6-million Caringbah Pavilion project winning State Significant Development approval.
This development will deliver 188 apartments above a Coles supermarket and specialty retail at a 6452sq m site in Caringbah’s E2 Commercial Centre zone.
The project includes market-rate and affordable housing—the latter to be 72 apartments managed by Hume Community Housing for at least 15 years.
Conquest acquired the site from the Coles Group in March of 2023 for $44 million. Construction on the Caringbah project is expected to complete early next year.
