Catholic Archdiocese Offloads Sydney CBD Tower

The Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney has sold the development rights to a 60-storey mixed-use development planned on the site of the Polding Centre in Sydney’s central business district.

The church has sold the building at 133-141 Liverpool Street to local developer Deicorp who will now redevelop the site with approvals already in place for a $230-million residential and commercial tower.

Sydney-based Deicorp did not disclose the price paid for the project but said the “rigorous” competitive process had taken 6-months, beating out a number of high-profile developers.

Completed in 1977, the Polding Centre was built to accommodate the Commonwealth Bank electronic data centre and designed by Smith Jesse Payne and Hunt in the brutalist style.

It is currently home to the Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney offices.

The building is not heritage listed. It does however sit alongside heritage sites such as the former Snow’s Emporium, the American Tobacco Company and Mark Foys Emporium.

In 2018, the Archdiocese submitted plans for a 70-storey residential skyscraper.

Under the proposal, designed by local firm Candalepas Architects, a new apartment tower would have been built to 234 metres in height while retaining the existing eight-storey commercial podium.

At the time the Archdiocese told The Urban Developer it would remain closely involved in the development and conduct a strategic review of its future office location.

Deicorp executive manager Rob Furolo said the real work was still to come and would now build on the existing proposal.

“We are obviously delighted to be selected by the Archdiocese for such a prestigious project, especially given the calibre of other businesses vying the job,” Furolo said.

“Securing the development rights is a really only the first step in the delivery of this project.

“The entire Deicorp team is now focused on delivering a world-class building for Sydney by working with some of Australia’s and the world’s most talented architects.”

Under the agreement with the Archdiocese, Deicorp will lead the design excellence process resulting in the lodgement of the stage two development application.

The new tower is in close proximity to Mirvac and Coombes Property’s plans for an 80-storey, 260-metre tall building on the site of the Event Cinemas at 505-523 George Street.

The residential developer, which has delivered over 6000 apartments in its two decades in operation, currently has $3.5 billion in projects under construction.

The developer recently unveiled plans for a 20-storey, four-tower development that will form the active heart of its proposed Doran Drive Precinct on a 7900sq m site adjacent to the Hills Showground metro station.

Work has also started on developer Deicorp’s $750 million Tallawong Village project in north-west Sydney following state government approval for the high-density development.