Sydney's Chinatown Acquires Two New Landmark Buildings

The influx of Chinese developers into Sydney has raised questions about the quality of the apartments they will deliver, but Ausbao’s recently completed

The Quay at Haymarket goes a long way to providing the answer.

Seamlessly blending the old with the new, the $300-million residential and retail development at 61-79 Quay Street gives Chinatown two world-class buildings, with Frank Gehry’s avant-garde creation for the UTS Business School just across the road.

The Quay was developed by

Ausbao Pty Ltd, which is the Australian subsidiary of the

Beijing Capital Development Holdings Group. BCDHG is Beijing’s largest property developer, constructing more than eight million square metres of property each year countrywide.

Ausbao purchased the site in September, 2009 and held a design competition. The winning scheme, by

WMK Architecture, was granted 10 per cent ‘bonus’ floorspace by the City Of Sydney Council because of its environmental initiatives, design excellence and clever response to re-activating the public spaces.

The remnant warehouse facade was sympathetically incorporated into The Quay, helping to provide an historical context at street level. Here 17 shops and service providers now operate, plus anchor tenants Woolworths and the specialist Asian supermarket, Tong Li, as well as China’s most famous traditional Chinese medicine shop –Tong Ren Tang.

Managing Director of Ausbao, Gavin Zhang said, “The Quay gave us an exciting opportunity to showcase best practices in architecture, interior design, construction and sensitive planning.”

“It is at the forefront of sustainable city living and was awarded a 4-Star Green Energy rating.”

Quay Interior[/caption]The Quay sold the majority of its 286 apartments off-the-plan, and these early buyers have enjoyed a handsome capital gain. Ausbao held back a handful of the apartments which it will release to the market shortly.

The Managing Director of CBRE Residential Project Marketing, David Milton, says the popularity of The Quay is due to its high quality, excellent design, exciting location and convenience to public transport.

“It is close to markets, cafes, theatres, boutiques, galleries, museums, bars, designer shops, fashion outlets, colleges, recreational amenities, parks and the harbor,” Mr Milton said.

Further activating the precinct will be the highly-anticipated Goods Line, a 500-metre corridor to Darling Harbour which is due to open in a couple of months.

The Quay has two sleek metallic towers – one 17-levels and the other 16-storeys – each with a dazzling private foyer befitting a six-star hotel.

Ausbao is well into the planning for another world-class residential building nearby, at 286 Sussex Street, appointing

Tzannes Associates as the first stage design architects.

“We delivered what we promised with The Quay, and we will continue to provide quality apartments to the Sydney market,” Mr Zhang said.