Developer Pitches $55m Adaptive Reuse Tower

A 14-storey mixed-use tower proposed for Crows Nest will breathe new life into the heritage-listed former North Sydney Gas Works Co office building.

PDS has lodged plans with the North Sydney Council for a 61-apartment, $55-million tower on the 2791sq m amalgamated site at 290 Pacific Highway. 

PDS, led by Sameh Ibrahim, is the project manager for the development on behalf of a private equity firm.

Ibrahim said the Crows Nest tower would be a “landmark project” in the area, targeting owner-occupiers.

“We want to be digging in the ground as soon as we can get it approved,” he said.

“There’s so much commmercial availablity in the area, we wanted to focus on residential.”

The development application details partially demolishing existing buildings on the site, while conserving the heritage fabric of the Gas Works office, to excavate four basement levels and build a 14-storey mixed-use tower.

The tower would comprise commercial tenancies on the ground floor and level 1, with a mix of three and four-bedroom apartments above.

The Rupert Villiers Minnett and Charles Cullis-Hill 1940s commercial building is an inter-war Art Deco building with original marble stairs, structural terracotta tiles and steel-frame windows that will be rejuvenated as part of the plans for the site. 

“The proposed development seeks the conservation and adaptive re-use of the Former North Shore Gas Co. by repurposing the item for contemporary uses and contributing to employment floorspace targets,” the design report said.

“The proposal will deliver a contemporary development atop the heritage item to clearly delineate new works from old.

“The design has a contemporary form that appears to ‘lean’ above the heritage building through an 'inverse' setback strategy.”

▲ DPS has lodged plans for an apartment tower that will conserve and adaptively reuse a heritage-listed office in Crows Nest.

An east-west pedestrian link through the site will create a break in the two-storey streetwall while the former North Shore Gas Co. facade and awning will be retained and reinstated together with the original 1940s gas showroom signage.

The tower above the heritage building will feature a curtain wall facade with a muted palette and lightweight materials to delineate between the old and the new, according to the design report. 

Crows Nest is undergoing urban renewal with the future Crows Nest Metro Station being built underground on the western fringe of the village.

It is due for completion in 2024 and will be a catalyst for development in the area following the release of the NSW Department of Planning’s St Leonards and Crows Nest 2036 Plan. 

PDS has a number of prospective projects in Queensland listed on its books, including the 76-storey Queen’s Tower proposed for 545 Queen Street, and two projects at Hamilton’s Northshore—the $700-million Platinum mixed-use development and Precinct 3D at the Civic Park development site.