New Plans Push Parramatta Skyscraper Past 60 Storeys

Coronation Property wants to add six storeys to its Parramatta megaproject. 

The prolific Sydney-based developer first lodged the plans with the City of Parramatta Council in 2016, and was granted approval in 2018 for a 55-storey mixed-use tower with 314 apartments. 

The Woods Bagot-designed project included 260 hotel rooms with conference facilities, and the adaptive reuse of an existing church building on the 2307sq m site at 8 Phillip Street. 

The new application asks for gross floor area increases of 4304sq m and building amendments, as well as modified parking layouts, public domain improvements and a hotel layby. 

In its latest application, Coronation wants to increase the building height by six storeys and remove the initially planned winter garden. 

It will add 10 apartments to every new storey, plus an additional three studio apartments for infill of the now-dropped winter garden component. 

▲ Coronation signed on QT Hotels & Resorts in 2016 for what was billed as Parramatta’s first five-star hotel.

Coronation said it was largely the same development for which the original consent was granted, retaining its mixed-use land use. 

The amendments include additional height and built form changes, the developer said in the development application, but it does not have any “unreasonable impacts” beyond those already assessed. 

“The amendments proposed seek to provide additional housing choice and mix within a prime location to allow for future mixed-use land uses within the Parramatta CBD to operate,” the application said. 

The permitted height on the site is in accordance with LEP provisions, and subject to a 15 per cent design competition bonus, thereby resulting in a permitted height of 220.8m.

The proposed modifications represent just under a 5 per cent increase from the previously approved height.

The latest modifications add to a growing trend of developers revisiting existing projects rather than starting afresh. 

Last year Coronation upscaled its $646-million Merrylands masterplan, adding another tranche of apartments to bring the total to 849, while Deicorp has this year taken advantage of NSW urban infill policy changes, adding five storeys to its Crows Nest project.