Ecove Plots Triple the Homes for Aldi-Anchored Scheme

Ecove is planning a 180-unit shoptop development on the Upper North Shore, bringing in a major rival to Australia’s supermarket duopoly to occupy the ground floor. 

Aldi, which was greenlit for a massive distribution centre in Western Sydney’s Aerotropolis this month, would be the anchor tenant with a full-line supermarket. 

The 28-storey project is a significant upscale from the existing approval for the site, issued by the Ku-ring-gai Council in 2018, for a seven-storey mixed-use shoptop project of 55 market apartments. 

The Sydney-based developer has now more than tripled the apartments planned for the site at 810 Pacific Highway. 

Ecove partnered with Aldi for the 1324sq m supermarket element of the development, which has been in planning for several years, according to Ecove’s application, but has not been delivered under the existing approvals “due to significant feasibility challenges”. 

Ecove’s development would include 39 affordable housing apartments, and relies on the Housing SEPP changes that allow bonus height and floor space ratios in exchange for affordable housing. 

▲ Renderings of Ecove’s proposals for the Pacific Highway site that are 10 storeys higher than its approved scheme.

The $142-million project would increase housing supply and diversity, the environmental impact statement said, including universal and adaptable design considerations. 

It would have six basement levels and parking for 269 cars.

Level 1 would house the residential lobby, a library, gym, a flexible-use space and communal garden, with additional communal space on levels 24 and 26.

The “underutilised site” close to the Gordon Centre shopping complex, was home to a five-storey office building that has been partially demolished based on existing approvals.

The 2357sq m site in the Gordon town centre is 20km from Sydney CBD and near the Gordon railway station within a Transport Oriented Development area, which were announced by the NSW Government in 2023. 

▲ Aldi has signalled its intention to expand its Australian operations, incouding developing a major NSW distribution centre.

The TOD schemes for Lindfield, Killara, Roseville and Gordon were renegotiated by the Ku-ring-gai Council and its amended plans, which allow for lower heights than previous government-led plans, were finally approved in 2025. 

These changes have prompted a flood of development applications, given that, as Ecove’s application said, there has been no proponent-led planning proposals that increase residential or commercial activity for the previous five years.

The introduction of Aldi to the development also adds to a growing trend of supermarkets diversifying from standalone supermarket offerings to those integrated into residential and mixed-use precincts. 

Woolworths has become a residential developer in its own right, delivering build-to-rent towers at Albion, a $175-million tower at Gladesville, andapartment projects at Kangaroo Point in Brisbane via its Fabcot development arm.