Green Light for $52m Central Coast Residential Tower

A 25-storey residential tower on NSW’s Central Coast, one of three slated for a waterside precinct in Gosford, has been approved.

The tower, The Waterfront, will overlook Brisbane Waters at Gosford on a former school site developer St Hillier bought in 2017.

The DKO Architecture-designed plan for Central Coast Quarter's northern tower show 136 apartments and 621sq m of ground-floor retained space on the 8884sq m former Gosford Public School site. 

The plans for the tower were lodged in September, 2021 after a concept design was approved 12 months earlier.

The tower will comprise 14 one-, 107 two- and 14 three-bedroom apartments plus a four-bedroom penthouse. Ten per cent of the apartments will be adaptable for residents with disabilities.

The building has been designed to achieve 5.7-star Nathers rating. It is one of three planned for the site at 26-30 Mann Street, which was acquired in 2017.

The Waterfront has an estimated end value of $115 million and a projected construction cost of $52 million. Work is expected to begin mid-2022.

St Hilliers development director Justyn Ng said the project would generate 105 construction and 21 operational jobs. 

“We are delighted with this approval as it enables us to make an important contribution to Gosford with high-quality housing, many new job opportunities and some great improvements to the local area for the benefit of the whole community,” he said.

Ng said that The Waterfront, launched to the market in late 2021, had sold strongly.

“The sales demand has continued, and even accelerated this year, which indicates to us there’s a pent-up demand for a project of this kind,” he said.

▲ An impression of the view from the penthouse in the tower. Source: St Hilliers

The 251sq m penthouse with views of Brisbane Waters sold for $3.2 million on launch in November, 2021. 

The tower also includes a four-level basement carpark with spaces for 181 cars and 63 bicycles. 

St Hilliers completed a $50-million commercial building on the site in 2019, anchored by the NSW Department of Finance, Services and Innovation.

The developer hopes to launch a design competition for the next stage of the precint later this year. The precinct is slated for completion by 2025. 

The NSW government set aside the area as a revitalisation precinct to link the CBD with the waterfront in October, 2018 with $793 million in development applications approved since and a further $649 million in potential projects under assessment. 

Central Coast parliamentary secretary Adam Crouch said the application had assessed with regards to overshadowing public space.

“The developer worked closely with the City of Gosford Design Advisory Panel set up by the NSW government to allow taller buildings if they demonstrated excellent design and didn’t overshadow nearby public spaces,” Crouch said.

St Hilliers bought the property from Property NSW in March, 2019.

Other development projects on the Central Coast have not fared as well with Lederer Group opting out of a $345-million mixed-use project even after it was approved. 

The 14,192sq m Pacifica site at 136-148 Donnison Street—the city’s largest slice of concept approved real estate—was up for sale last month via an expressions of interest campaign. 

The site is currently occupied by the untenanted former Kibbleplex Shopping Centre.