Green Light for $300m Sydney Boatshed Rebirth

A $300-million adaptive reuse project predicted to revitalise a waterfront site in Sydney’s north-west has been approved.

The mixed-use Putney Wharf Residences development, the first collaboration between joint-venture partners Abadeen Group and Perifa, along with their partners Phoenix Property Investors and Mitsubishi Estate Asiais, has been greenlit by the City of Ryde.

The developers say the project, 14km from Sydney’s CBD, which includes the adaptive reuse of the landmark Halvorsen’s boatshed, will revitalise the 14ha heritage site.

Encompassing 300m of waterfront, the project will deliver 67 luxury apartments and townhouses, plus retail, dining, and a 36-berth marina.

Under the plans, the boatshed’s key features such as original timber beams will be integrated to maintain the site’s heritage.

Nineteen apartments are part of the plans for the boatshed and will comprise 17 three-bedroom apartments and two four-bedroom homes.

The other residential elements are Waterview Terraces— comprising 18 three-storey, four-bedroom terraces—and the Residences at Putney Wharf, 30 two and three-bedroom apartments in two new-build three-storey buildings.

▲ Renders of the Putney Wharf development, including views within apartments slated for the boatshed.

Perifa co-founder Fabrizio Perilli—who is also managing director of parent company Versatile Group— told The Urban Developer late last year that the site’s past would be “celebrated and reinvigorated as a buzzing location for the community to enjoy”.

The wharf was once home to Halvorsen’s, reputedly Sydney’s most successful boat-building business but has been vacant and closed to the public for decades.

Norwegian-born boat-builder Lars Halvorsen and his family, who moved to Sydney in 1925, built the boatshed in the 1930s. Gretel, Australia’s first America’s Cup challenger, was built in the Halvorsen yards in 1962.

Construction is expected to start this year ahead of completion in 2027.