Fortis Files Plans for $90m Darling Point Project

Boutique property developer Fortis has lodged plans for a $90-million apartment project in affluent eastern Sydney suburb Darling Point.

The developer plans to build a seven-level project comprising residential and retail offerings on a 1250sq m site at 1 Mona Road that it picked up for $17.5 million in 2020.

Fortis bought the site due to its position; it is close to Edgecliff Train Station, Rushcutters Bay Park, the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia, and a local schools.

It has now put forward plans for a north-facing, MHNDU-designed development consisting of six levels of one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments, above ground floor retail and commercial offerings.

All apartments in the high-end project would include external terraces or balconies, with select apartments capturing views across the city, harbour, neighbouring suburb of Paddington and surrounds.

Pallas Group, the parent company of Fortis and real estate fund manager Pallas Capital, will oversee financing of the project.

The development will actively target affluent downsizers from wealthy suburbs nearby, such as Bellevue Hill, Point Piper, Woollahra and Vaucluse at a time when Sydney’s property prices are running at record levels—they are on track to hit 27 per cent growth this year.

According to Corelogic, apartment values in Darling Point have climbed by $595,000, or 26.6 per cent, since the onset of the pandemic.

Fortis director Charles Mellick said the updated scheme for the project has been spurred by the increased demand for luxury apartments in Sydney’s east.

“We have seen significant demand for well-appointed boutique apartments in Sydney’s east in the last year, and existing developments in these suburbs have sold out in record time,” he said.

“The plans for this site in Darling Point have been updated in response to this demand.”

Mellick said, if approved, construction on this site would begin by the end of 2021.

Fortis continues to pad out its pipeline with $2.25 billion in projects currently under construction or under planning in Sydney and Melbourne, split roughly 50/50 between residential and commercial.

The developer has long held a major focus on the expensive eastern suburbs of Sydney and Melbourne, locales like Rose Bay, Double Bay, Toorak and Brighton.

In June, alongside partner Dare Property Group, Fortis snapped up a 2650sq m site in Point Piper for $41 million where it is now planning an 18 apartment development.

In April, it bought a development site in Sydney’s Double Bay for $38.5 million to turn it into a mix-use development worth $90 million. Double Bay is also the site of its most recently completed apartment development, Marmont.

Earlier in March, it paid $28.5 million for a 2200sq m development site in Rose Bay.