Shoptop Apartments to Replace 1970s Office Block

Renewed interest in Sydney’s middle suburbs has led to a developer lodging plans for a residential development the city’s Upper North Shore.

The development application to the Ku-ring-gai Council proposes the demolition of the existing 1970s office building at 7-9 Merriwa Street, Gordon, north of Macquarie Park and Chatswood.

The application details the construction of a mixed-use building of 27 apartments and three commercial tenancies with an estimated development cost of $32.8 million.

It will replace a large part-six, part-five storey office building, constructed in the early 1970s.

According to CoreLogic’s RP Data, the Merriwa Street site was sold in 2014 for $11.2 million from the Uniting Church in Australia Property Trust to Fuye Development Pty Ltd. 

According to ASIC documents, Fuye is associated with Chinese nationals Wei Dong Chen and Kwok Hung Chen, and wholly owned by Chan’s International Developments Pty Ltd.

Giles Tribe Architects have designed the project, which is being planned by Mecone. 

▲ NSW amended planning controls apply within 400m of 37 stations, of which Gordon is one.

The new building will sit on a single allotment 400m from Gordon town centre and the suburb’s rail station.

It will offer 27 residential apartments leaning towards larger typologies, with 1 two-bedroom unit, and 13 three-bedroom and another 13 four-bedroom apartments. 

Retail and commercial tenancies on the lower floors will face the Fitzsimons Lane frontage on level three of the sloping site and there will be a rooftop communal open area also.

Given the need for housing across the nation, the Ku-ring-gai area has been identified by the NSW Government as a priority area. 

Eight stations in the LGA, including Gordon, Killara, Rosefield and Lindfield, have been identified in the State Government’s Transport Oriented Development (TOD) planning reforms as areas to encourage higher density residential projects.