Build-to-RentHarrison CaithnessTue 25 Aug 26
Greenlit Waterloo, Annandale BtR Towers to Add 1125 Homes
Coronation’s plans for an 826-home build-to-rent precinct in Sydney’s inner south have been waved ahead.
The developer has been cleared to raise nine towers on a 2.15ha site at Waterloo on Gadigal land, about 4km south of the Sydney CBD and less than 1km from the Waterloo train station.
The scheme at 881-885 Bourke and 207-229 Young Streets will not provide 73 affordable homes as originally planned, but rather will contribute a 9 per cent of uplift to the City of Sydney’s Affordable Housing Program.
The development is divided into four parcels, designed by architects SJB, Bates Smart, Curious Practice and Chenchow Little.
Building heights for the nearly $500-million project range from seven to 33 storeys. The tallest was shaved of three levels during the approval process.
The precinct will have a gross floor area of 62,235sq m and a floor space ratio of 3:1.
Coronation’s own build-to-rent operator Nation will manage much of the precinct.
Nation’s City Starter/Stayer smaller-than-typical studios—a majority 30sq m at minimum—will make up almost a quarter (201) of homes.
Studios are required to have a minimum floor space of 35sq m under the NSW Apartment Design Guide, but Coronation submitted that the City Starter/Stayer studios were adequate due to larger-than-typical provision of communal open spaces.
Almost a third of the site area across ground, podium and rooftop levels will be communal open space. Communal amenities include a gym, pools, saunas, an open-air cinema, a pickleball court, podcast and music studios and rooftop barbecue areas.
Retail will comprise almost 4942sq m of gross floor space. A two-storey consolidated basement beneath the precinct will provide 426 car spaces.
Coronation’s Waterloo precinct is expected to complete in the fourth quarter of 2028.
BtR shoptop approved for Inner West
Meanwhile, Cosgrove Group has been greenlit for 299 build-to-rent apartments in a 23-storey shoptop at Annandale in Sydney’s Inner West.
The 2570sq m site amalgamated from seven lots on Gadigal land fronts Pyrmont Bridge Road at the intersection with Parramatta Road.
Retail premises will comprise 652sq m of ground floor space from a gross floor area of 20,475 square metres.
Affordable housing will comprise 10 per cent of residential gross floor area.
A basement will provide for 43 car spaces.
Three light industrial homewares shops will be demolished to make way for the tower.
The 122-130 Pyrmont Bridge and 206 Parramatta roads site is about 1km from the University of Sydney and the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, and 3.5km from the Sydney CBD.
The developer won approval to build a private hospital on the site last year, but did not follow through due to a lack of health practitioners to occupy it.
The approved residential project has a estimated $122 million development cost.
A concurrent rezoning proposal to increase the floor space ratio standard from 4:1 to 7.97:1 was also approved.
The approved plan increases the building’s height from 22 storeys to 23 storeys by reducing floor heights, increasing the number of units from 281 to 299.
Cosgrove Group’s build-to-rent tower at Annandale is expected to complete in 2029.
