Chinatown Opens New Frontier for Sydney’s Expanding PBSA Pipeline

Plans for a 16-storey tower with almost 670 co-living rooms at Sydney’s Chinatown are on exhibition. The project has been put forward by Brookfield and Journal Student Living, the PBSA manager it acquired a 50 per cent stake in from Citiplan in 2024 . The $168-million, 669-room scheme would rise from a 2027sq m site with frontage to George Street, Thomas Street, and Ultimo Road. The addresses at 76 Ultimo Road, 217-219 Thomas Street and 691-693 and 695-699 George Street are about 350m from Central Station, and adjacent to the L2 and L3 light rail lines. The site is about 500m from the TAFE NSW Ultimo campus, while the University of Technology, Sydney. Campuses of the University of Sydney and University of Notre Dame are also in the vicinity. Plans on show until November 17, call for the demolition of the four buildings at those addresses, currently used for commercial and retail spaces. ▲ The 16-storey tower would sit at the heart of Sydney's Chinatown. A floor space ratio of 9.9:1 would apply, yielding gross floor area of 19,926sq m. Of that, 18,224sq m would be residential, and 1764sq m would be purposed for common living areas. In a slightly different iteration of the project, an architectural design statement within the application package, prepared by Cox Architecture, also calls for 17 storeys and 684 beds. The November edition of Urbis’ Living Sectors Report found that PBSA rents in Sydney have reached $705, growing at an annualised rate of four per cent since 2024. While 53 per cent of existing PBSA supply is off-campus, that figure grows in the forward pipeline to 72 per cent. ▲ Affordability and amenability are becoming more important to PBSA, according to Urbis. Urbis partner Clinton Ostwald said that affordability rather than campus proximity was increasingly important for PBSA, and that online learning has led to students spending more time in their accommodation. “Students are now looking to balance the cost of living with accommodation that still offers the amenities and lifestyle synonymous with university life,” Ostwald said. “For some students, if they have easy access to university by public transport, they’re more willing to live a little further away from their university in favour of more affordable rents. “Operators that offer additional lifestyle and wellbeing amenities for residents, such as gyms and wellness areas, are being increasingly sought after by students.” ▲ Uplift is under way for the midrise strip between Market City and George Street. Studio rents at PBSA developments are 41 per cent higher than four-bedroom typologies, according to the Urbis report. However, on-campus projects run by universities or joint ventures are heavily weighted towards larger typologies, with supply dominated by colleges, and five-bedroom and larger apartments. The Brookfield project neighbours the Market City building, where Paddy’s Markets re-opened its Haymarket branch in May, after a $20-million renovation. It also adjoins Posei’s proposed seven-storey tower topper on its existing Citymark building . The Marigold yum cha restaurant, which operated out of the building’s top floors for the past two decades of its 40-year run, shut in 2021.

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Student AccommodationPatrick LauTue 10 Nov 26

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