Office Adaptive Reuse Planned for Sydney Seniors Project

Property developer and investor Realside is plotting to adaptively reuse a five-storey office at Greenwich on Sydney’s Lower North Shore. 

The developer has filed a planning proposal and development application for the 2434sq m site at 170 Pacific Highway. 

Realside wants to develop a 10-storey luxury over-55s residential tower, retaining the existing office structure and adding five levels. 

The plans comprise 48 luxury apartments in a mix of one, two, and three bedrooms.

Amenities would include a ground-floor movie theatre, pool, sauna and fitness studio, with a library, wine room and private dining, and barbecue areas for community use.

Sydney-based Realside, which has developed and funded industrial, office and retail projects, said the retention of the existing building was part of its sustainable approach.

It estimated that retaining the building’s concrete slab would reduce carbon emissions by around 1.25 million kilograms of CO₂, compared to a full demolition and rebuild.

The site is 700m west of St Leonards Town Centre, and is home to a five-storey commercial building with a medical centre above a basement carpark. 

▲ The office on the site was sold in 2020 with a net annual income of $2.6 million and WALE of four years.

The locality is undergoing a transition as a result of the St Leonards/Crows Nest Transport Oriented Development precinct, with land use intensification expected.

However, Realside’s site is subject to a tricky planning clause that stipulates that consent must not be granted for the subdivision of a building if development is carried out on land in a commercial centre zone. 

But this restriction “acts as a major disincentive to the development of the site”, according to the proposal, so the planning proposal asked to amend the Lane Cove Local Environmental Plan to add seniors housing as an additional permitted use on the site.

Realside acquired 170 Pacific Highway in 2020 as an income-generating office asset, revising its strategy early on to adaptively reuse the site. 

According to Cotality’s RP Data, it was sold for $42 million. 

Office conversions are cropping up across the country as owners look to reposition underperforming assets which are often B-Grade and below. 

In North Sydney, plans were filed this year to turn a brutalist 1970s office into apartments, while up in Brisbane, Silverstone scrapped an approved 26-storey commercial building in favour of a 30-storey apartment tower, and Shayher Group proposed a Brisbane office in Milton could be converted into short-term accommodation.