Charter Hall’s Kent Street Office Plans Get Green Light

Charter Hall has cleared another hurdle on its path to develop a 42-storey golden office tower in the Sydney CBD as the property giant declares the office sector has finally hit an “inflection point”.

The City of Sydney council and planning committee voted unanimously at both meetings this week to increase the height and floor space ratio to support the new skyscraper designed by FJC Studio.

Charter Hall lodged the plans in May after picking up 383-395A Kent Street, Sydney, for $385 million from Dexus in July 2022, one of the biggest office transactions that year.

The support was anticipated and barely made any impact during either council meeting, passing through within a minute without questions or commentary. 

This was in contrast to projects like Landream’s Pyrmont Place which faced a rocky road to development or Canva’s Surry Hills office plans which had an animated approval process.

Charter Hall managing director David Harrison said in the next 10 years the population was going to increase by 3.9 million so there was a lot to do.

“Australia will need to build additional supply across all real estate sectors, the size of Brisbane and Adelaide combined to accommodate this population growth,” Harrison said in the half-yearly reports.

“We are clearly now at an inflection point in the market and as Australia’s largest owner and manager of commercial real estate, Charter Hall is well positioned to deliver for our investor and tenant customers as our nation and economy continues to grow.”

▲ The proposed 383 Kent Street office will be a major update for the western edge of Sydney CBD and is designed around environmental, economic and social outcomes.

In Melbourne, Charter Hall and Brookfield Properties secured a 10-year lease agreement with EY at East End Place to occupy the top nine levels of the building.

Charter Hall and Brookfield Properties partnered with Cox Architecture and Buildcorp on the repositioning of East End Place, which is expected to be completed in late 2025.

Sustainability was the driving factor for EY’s decision to relocate its headquarters and 4000-strong workforce in October 2026.