OfficePatrick LauFri 29 May 26
Time & Place Plots $181m Surry Hills Adaptive Reuse Project
A wave of heritage warehouse conversions in inner Sydney rolls on, with two adaptive reuse projects progressing in Surry Hills.
Time & Place is exhibiting plans for a 10-storey, 172-home project at 47-97 Marlborough Street (pictured above), which would incorporate three existing industrial facilities on the southern fringe of the suburb.
And a Willow Group makeover of five heritage-listed warehouses has been approved for 4-22 Wentworth Avenue, just 100m from Hyde Park.
The Time & Place plan is calling for a $181-million adaptation of a 1914 David Jones warehouse with a 1935 addition on a sloping 3413sq m site.
A floor space ratio of 5.0049:1 would yield 17,082sq m of gross floor area.
A complicated design by Wardle would include internal demolition works, excavation to 26m on part of the site, a four-level addition to one building, a car stacker as well as vehicular access, and a private pedestrian link. Typologies would include townhouse, apartment, loft and penthouse forms.
The Marlborough House building was acquired in 2024 for $110 million, with backing from James Packer. At the time, gross realisable value was estimated around $500 million.
Meanwhile, the $250-million Willow Group project replaces earlier plans for a hotel at the site with an adaptive reuse scheme yielding ground-floor and basement food and beverage, and podium and tower office space.
Design of the buildings from 5 to 13 storeys, by an architectural team of DKO and Aileen Sage, retains the character of the individual warehouses while incorporating a new three-storey atrium with a glass roof, and a sculptural staircase.
Cross-laminated timber will be used for the upper floors, and the precinct will yield over 7000sq m of net lettable area. Construction will begin in the third quarter of 2026, according to Willow Group.
Elsewhere in Surry Hills, yet another scheme is progressing at the site of a heritage-listed hat factory at 7-13 and 15 Randle Street, which was destroyed by fire in 2023.
The 123-key hotel project being progressed by Robert and Geula Burke was one of two hotels placed on the Investment Delivery Authority pathway in March 2026.
