City West Plans 10-Storey Tower in Sydney’s Alexandria

City West Housing has filed plans with the City of Sydney for a mixed-use affordable housing development in Alexandria.

The concept development application comprises plans by Bates Smart for 104 affordable rental apartments at 216-220 Wyndham Street in the suburb 5km south of the CBD.

The site is within the Botany Road Precinct, which was recently rezoned by the council to incentivise new commercial and affordable rental housing developments. 

It is close to Green Square Town Centre as well as the future Waterloo Metro Station in an “undergoing substantial revitalisation” from light industrial to high-density residential development, thanks to the Sydney Metro. 

City West Housing has 890 affordable apartments in the area and a pipeline of four sites, including its Acacia Apartments development at 330-332 Botany Road, Plans for it were lodged earlier this year.

City West Housing head of development Lisa Sorrentino said that as the developer was the City of Sydney’s preferred community housing provider, it has an extremely large footprint. 

“Because of the new Waterloo metro, there has been a change to the LEP (Local Environmental Plans) around the Botany Bay Precinct that allows us to increase affordable housing there, and this is the first DA that takes advantage of those increased planning controls,” she told The Urban Developer. 

“We’ve got a waiting list of more than 2500 eligible households.”

▲ A render of the Waterloo Station, a catalyst for affordable housing development and rezoning in the Botany Road Precinct.

Another feature of the development is aimed at promoting car shares thanks to a partnership with Australian car share network GoGet. 

“We want to reduce reliance on cars and be more green. The building is also all electric,” Sorrentino said.

The Wyndham Street currently has a two-storey warehouse occupied by multiple tenants.

If approved, the 10-storey tower will include ground and first floor  commercial use.