Gazcorp Axes Sydney Office Plan for More BtR

Gazcorp has reworked plans to reposition a proposed office tower at its Emerald City three-tower development in inner Sydney as build-to-rent.

Plans for the site including build-to-rent and offices were submitted in 2021, and the Central Sydney Planning Committee granted consent for the development in May, 2022. After deferrals during the pandemic, development consent became operational in May of this year.

The current application now before the City of Sydney Council seeks to change the use of tower C from a commercial offices to residential apartments operated under a build-to-rent model. 

The planning documents from Urbis justify the change as a response to “current market demands and [the need to] align with recent government housing policies”.

The project is planed for at an amalgamated site at 284 Wyndham Street and 296-298 Botany Road, Alexandria, 8.5km south of the CBD.

Gazcorp is asking to update the built form of tower C to accommodate this proposed change of use, providing a more slender tower form and “improving its street-level perception”.

▲ The plans propose a more slender built form and greater separation between the three buildings.

Designs by SJB Architects also detail changes to the built form, apartment configuration and mix across towers A and B, as well as increased seperation between the two towers, with tower B moved further north on the site and tower A moved further east towards Botany Road.

Gazcorp is also proposing changes to the lower ground floor to level 1 to accommodate lobbies and communal spaces for the new residential component.

The 9140sq m site would comprise 333 apartments, with the proposed changes adding 78 new units to the overall project.

▲ The project has an estimated construction cost of $132 million.

Most will be two-bedroom units, with one and three-bedroom apartments are also part of the mix.

The office sector continues to struggle in the post-pandemic landscape, leading developers and investors to reconsider office projects.

That includes Holdmark, which last month lodged plans to convert an office building into residential in north Sydney, while in Canberra, Veriu Group has recently opened its adaptive reuse plans that converted a commercial site at Greenway into a 76-key hotel.