Fast-Track Bid for Holdmark’s Parramatta Skyscraper

A $421-million Holdmark plan would add 72 storeys of housing and convert a 13-storey tower to co-living in Western Sydney under the state’s fast-track program.

The Parramatta proposal at 2-10 Valentine Avenue includes 600 apartments with 3 per cent affordable in perpetuity.

Australian Unity owned the site until July of 2024 when it sold for $80.5 million, according to an ASX announcement by the Australian Unity Office Fund.

Settlement followed in April this year.

The company had earlier lodged a Secretary’s Environmental Assessment Requirements (SEARs) request for a 68-storey build-to-rent scheme but did not advance the plan.

Holdmark’s 72-storey residential tower would rise from the 2 Valentine Avenue car park.

The 13-storey commercial building next door at 10 Valentine Avenue would be retained and adapted for 674 co-living residents.

The project is in the early assessment stage and seeks a rezoning alongside the development application.

▲ Buchan and Furtado Sullivan rendering of the 72-storey residential tower next to the 2-10 Valentine Avenue site (outlined) beside Parramatta train station.

This would change the site’s E2 Commercial Centre zoning—intended mainly for commercial and retail uses—to permit shop-top housing and co-living. Site-specific planning controls would also be amended.

Fast-track status was granted in June under the HDA’s state significant development pathway.

Designed by Buchan with Furtado Sullivan—appointed through a design competition—the tower would feature ground-floor retail and communal spaces on the lower levels.

Rising 233 m above street level (243m above sea level), it would match Parramatta’s current height limit.

Apartments would run to level 70, with a rooftop residents’ area on level 71. Level 72 would house mechanical services. Basement parking for 146 vehicles is proposed.

▲ A street-level view of the proposed tower’s podium.

The co-living tower would offer shared living and dining areas, co-study spaces, wellness rooms, games and entertainment rooms, prayer and meditation rooms, street-level retail and parking for 21 vehicles are planned for the co-living tower.

The planning report said the adaptive reuse “substantially enhances sustainability outcomes by minimising embodied carbon”.

Part of Parramatta’s CBD South Precinct, 23km west of central Sydney, the site is earmarked for high-density mixed-use projects as part of the city’s growth plan.

It is within walking distance of Parramatta Station, the Parramatta Light Rail and the future Sydney Metro West station.

The proposal is part of the HDA’s latest tranche of state significant projects, which includes major housing schemes across Edmondson Park, Norwest and Leppington.

Since its inception, the pathway has added more than 53,000 homes to the pipeline, and 47 projects have had SEARs issued to date.