Family owned Hyecorp Property Group is back before the Lane Cove Council as it plots to amalgamate apartments in its 13-storey tower in Sydney’s north.
It will be the second time the Sydney-based developer has lodged amendments to join apartments at the behest of up-sizers and down-sizers buying into the tower at 13-19 Canberra Avenue, St Leonards.
And there is one more amendment still to be lodged, but that will be the last.
Hyecorp director of sales and acquisitions George Benlian said there were no more unsold and adjoining apartments left in the project.
“Unfortunately, we are at the stage where we can’t do those anymore because we’re running out of stock,” he said.
“We are about 75 per cent sold and we don’t have two apartments next to each other that are still for sale to be able to amalgamate.
“The council normally supports these applications because basically you’re reducing your total number of units,” Benlian said. “So we did two and there is another one that we haven’t launched yet, but it’s happening as well.”
The $33.5-million project, to be known as Audrey, was originally approved for a mix of 84 apartments from studios to three bedrooms; four basement levels of parking for up to 135 vehicles; a childcare centre with 60 spaces and a community centre.
The plans for the upper-ground floor call for private wine storage, a music room, fitness studio, cinema, pool and spa. There will be rooftop community space.
With apartment amalgamation and an as-yet undetermined number of penthouses, it is still not clear exactly how many apartments the development will eventually have. Benlian said from 79 to 81 was likely.
Construction on the 2629sq m site began in January with the demolition of four brick and tile-roofed houses.
The design is by SJB architects.
The original development application provided two community spaces to the St Leonards South Precinct—the childcare centre and a community hall totalling 1050 square metres.
While the childcare centre still had to be designed and built it would eventually be handed back to the Lane Cove Council, who as owners, would then find a tenant for it.
Benlian said buyers were from a wide demographic but most were owner-occupiers.
A single-bedroom apartment with no parking had sold for $850,000 to $860,000. Two-bedroom apartments had sold from $1.45 million to $1.9 million, and three bedrooms for $1.85 million to $2.45 million.
Benlian said the first apartment amalgamation—where a buyer joined a two-bedroom and a three-bedroom apartments—had sold for just over $5 million.
The development site is made up of four lots. Online documents show each of them changed hands for $8.5 million to $9.5 million during the past two years.
Construction is scheduled to be completed by early 2025.
