Macquarie Park a Hotbed for Developers and Planners

State and national developers—lured by the proximity to a major university, a research hospital, a business park, refurbished train station and the nearby overhauled shopping centre—are flocking to Macquarie Park in Sydney’s north-western suburbs.

The area, identified as “an innovation precinct and economic powerhouse”, is on the verge of further growth with the latest stage of rezoning studies underway.

Those will involve detailed masterplanning and the introduction of new planning controls across Macquarie Park to guide future development, in an area that’s already a hub of construction and development activity.

Major student accommodation developments such as Singapore-based Centurion’s $132-million purpose-built site have been launched alongside residential developments, including Eco World International’s 123-apartment complex, which was approved last week.

And just this week Harry Triguboff’s Meriton secured approval for a huge, three-tower mixed-use development at 100-108 Talavera Road.

In a letter of approval, planning authorities said Meriton’s development “exhibits design excellence which positively contributes to the overall architectural quality” of the Macquarie Park Corridor.

▲ Planning authorities said that Meriton's proposal was consistent with its ambitious objectives for the area.

Designed by architects PTW, the complex dubbed Trilogy will be one of Australia’s tallest suburban developments.

Apartments are on sale from $670,000.

The latest approval comes after a nearly six-year process, with initial demolition works agreed in 2017.

The first stage of the complex, located to the west of the current site, is already completed after being approved in 2019. An initial concept development application for the next stage of the site was approved by Sydney North Planning Panel in 2020.

The current plans, which were lodged before Ryde City Council in early 2022, call for an additional three buildings, at a cost of $362 million.

Building A will be 38 storeys with 36 levels of residential space totaling 206 apartments. 

Building B will have 345 apartments across 45 storeys, while Building C will reach 59 storeys, with 521 apartments across 54 levels. The bulk of the homes will be of two and three bedrooms.

▲ In total, Meriton’s Trilogy project stage 2 will have a total GFA of 103,950 square metres. 

The application covers a four-storey basement and multi-storey podium carpark for 1256 vehicles.

A five-storey podium is also proposed, which will include 807sq m of retail, a 562-sq-m restaurant and a 120-place childcare facility.

Meanwhile, prolific Sydney developer Urban Property Group is hoping amended plans before Ryde City Council will ease the approval path for its own Macquarie Park plans.

UPG—led by brothers Patrick and Mark Elias—are seeking 119 apartments across 16 storeys, including basement level parking at 94 Talavera Road, just a stone’s throw from the Meriton approval.

While a final determination should be made by the Sydney North Planning Panel, the developer’s planned $36.4 million build stalled after authorities failed to decide on the application in the allotted time.

UPG confirmed the so-called “deemed refusal” had become part of a Section 34 hearing in the NSW Land and Environment Court, in which both sides hold discussions to identify the issues in dispute, consider options and try to reach agreement.

The 2780sq m triangular-shaped site is also within the Macquarie Park Corridor, which town planners Ethos Urban describe as “a premier technology park filled with globally competitive businesses and strong links to Macquarie University”.

▲ While Meriton’s Macquarie Park project has been approved, UPG’s plans for 119 apartments across 16 storeys will have to wait a while longer.

The Cox Architecture design calls for 36 one-bedroom, 58 two-bedroom and 24 three-bedroom apartments. Just one will be four bedrooms.  Parking is planned for 123 vehicles.

At 51.1m the tower will exceed the 45m maximum building height control.

In documents first submitted to Ryde City Council in January last year, Ethos Urban said the proposed development was on land that “contains a challenging topography”, pointing to a slope of about 9m from south-west to north-east.

A spokesman for Ryde confirmed the development application had not been determined within the 40 days necessary and the council and developers had attended a Section 34 mediation conference.  A hearing date had been set for May 2023.

“The applicant has however lodged amended plans and these are currently on exhibition,” the spokesman said.

“If council is happy with these plans it is possible to request the matter be returned back to a section 34 conference rather than a full hearing in May.”

It’s been a busy start to the year for UPG, who last month filed plans for a 178-townhouse development in the south-west Sydney suburb of Edmondson Park.