ApartmentsPatrick LauThu 01 Oct 26
Plans for $102m Beer Barn Tower Revealed for Sleepy Sydney Suburb
A beer barn in a sleepy Sydney suburb is the latest in a trend of pub-to-apartment makeovers, with a 16-storey tower proposed for the Narwee Hotel.
The plan on exhibition calls for 181 apartments rising over a ground-floor tavern and six basement levels with 343 parking spaces, less than 100m from Narwee train station and 15km west of the CBD.
A vehicle associated with Iris Capital’s Sam Arnout is behind the $102-million proposal, after it picked up the pub for $45 million in 2020’s biggest Sydney hospitality transaction.
Existing structures on the 3385sq m site at 116 Penshurst Road, including a bottle shop, would be demolished. A 56m height is proposed, above the local control of 27m, but floor space ratio would fit within local controls. However, the floor space ratio of 5.55:1 would not require a variation, as no standard exists in the LEP for the area.
The 18,676sq m gross floor area would include 1439sq m of retail space, with 808sq m replacing the Narwee Hotel and two separate tenancies comprising 347sq m. The Furtado Sullivan-designed building would include nine affordable homes.
The exhibition comes just months after Iris Capital unloaded a $500-million, nine-asset portfolio to Redcape, with several of those venues holding DA approval for conversion to mixed-use and residential.
Mixed-use developments featuring homes and pubs are common in Iris projects, including the $65-million Queensgate at Potts Point.
That 46-home, double-pub development was revised in a modification application filed in May, seeking to replace a 59-key hotel in the approved with more apartments, lifting yield to 75 homes.
Casinos in Canberra, and Alice Springs’ storied Lasseters, have also been on the menu for Iris in recent years. However, the retail sector is the most recent addition to Sam Arnout’s purview, with a $450-million transaction in 2025 to pick up the St Ives Shopping Village on Sydney’s North Shore.
Near to that mall, adjacent to the Pymble Golf Club, approvals have stacked up for a $92-million Prosper midrise project, and a similarly-sized $92-million Traders in Purple scheme.
