Gurner Bags Sydney Site for $800m Twin Tower Project

Luxury residential developer Gurner has acquired a 1195sq m site in the heart of Sydney, earmarked for a two-tower, $800-million landmark. 

The property at 189 Kent Street was acquired from Barana Group, which has held the asset since 2002 and recently won planning approval for a residential development.

Gurner Group chief executive Tim Gurner said the site would be transformed into a Saint Moritz-level of luxury with two 34-storey towers slated for the Barangaroo block. 

Gurner said the 1960s ADC Building would make way for “an ultra-luxury offering like Saint Moritz that transports its owners into a world of luxury and service above anything else in the country, inspired by the best hotels around the world”.

“This site is positioned within one of the most expensive and luxurious locations in Australia so we plan to take what we know from Saint Moritz and apply it on a whole new scale, to offer the market something that is completely unique in terms of design, luxury, service and amenity,” he said.

The interiors will comprise expansive floor plans to maximise the panoramic views of Sydney Harbour and a new level of finish and materiality.

The site has an approval for two towers, ground-floor retail, restaurants and bars, a health and wellness component, and basement carparking. 

▲ The FJC Studio-designed project would comprise two 34-storey towers.

Gurner Group will seek small amendments to the existing approval to cut the number of apartments and increase the amenity on the site. FJC Studio has been appointed as architect. 

It’s the first seed site to receive capital from the developer’s $2-billion build-to-sell development fund, which has received backing from a global institutional investor. 

Gurner said the developer had been watching the market closely to identify the right opportunities and move quickly. 

“Kent Street represents one of the most prestigious development sites in Sydney; from the moment we were introduced to the site we knew we had to acquire it,” Gurner said. 

“It’s quite the coincidence that we partnered with Barana Group in Melbourne to deliver Saint Moritz and now five years later transacting on another landmark site with the intention to deliver something of a similar luxury scale.

▲ Gurner Group CEO Tim Gurner (right), with general manager of acquisition and development Simon Adams, says he is bullish about Sydney’s luxury market.

“We’re certainly across the challenges the development industry is currently facing in regards to construction and interest rates. We’ve taken a conservative view to pricing and feasibility and feel supremely confident on the fundamentals of this site and its success.

“We also know there are different factors at play in Sydney—lack of affordability, scarcity of quality product and depth of the luxury market—that make it far more capable of withstanding the current economic headwinds, so it’s for this reason that we are confident in the Sydney market and remain bullish on residential property in this blue-chip city.

“Across other states, it’s the construction and labour costs that are putting pressure on projects, which is why we see Sydney as such a strong opportunity with its higher price-per-square-metre average, motivated buyer pool and sought-after postcodes for offshore and local buyers.

“Sydney is a unique market with an incredibly low amount of supply and an even smaller opportunity to acquire great sites with harbour views—it is even rarer to be able to transact on a site that also has planning approval ready to go.”

The deal was brokered by CBRE Residential’s Justin Brown, Tim Rees and Ben Wicks.