Build-to-RentClare BurnettWed 10 Jun 26
Consortium’s Crows Nest BtR Plans Greenlit After Office Rethink
After rethinking its plans for a Crows Nest office, a consortium has been greenlit for a 16-storey build-to-rent project in North Sydney.
Silvernight, a consortium that includes Ascent Capital’s Steven Papadopolous, Hong-Kong-based Christina Mooi Chong Chew and Hing Loong Rudoff Leong, filed plans for a 13-storey A-grade office in 2023, which were approved the following year.
But the Silvernight consortium in July 2025 submitted fresh plans, this time for a residential tower on the 270 Pacific Highway site.
The planning application said that the office proposals had been submitted when market conditions and strategic planning policy were significantly different, and that a detailed review had led to a more mixed-use result.
The state significant development will rise in the Crows Nest Accelerated Transport Orientated Development precinct on a 3796sq m site that is 250m from the metro station and 350m from the Mater Hospital.
It is home to two 5-storey commercial buildings that will be demolished to make way for the project.
The developer consortium will deliver 168 apartments across 16 storeys with the scheme in the North Sydney local government area, 6.5km north of Sydney CBD.
It has an estimated development cost of $176.67 million.
It will take advantage of the upzoning of Crows Nest TOD, which will deliver 5900 homes by 2039, according to the planning report.
Also approved was 396sq m of retail, a 3132sq m medical centre and 65sq m of office, as well as 82 car parking spaces across two basement levels.
There will also be 2016sq m of communal open space and a three-level podium.
The podium will also house residential amenities including a gym and sauna, outdoor pool, co-working space and a cinema room.
A concurrent planning report also asks to amend the North Sydney Local Environmental Plan to take into account the floor space ratio split for residential and non-residential uses.
There were four objections to the project, which raised a lack of residential floor space, and issues around traffic and parking, and building height.
But in assessing the development, the Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure found the scheme supports state priorities and achieves “good design quality” and amenity.
It joins a host of projects in the Crows Nest TOD precinct, including Prosper’s $264-million tower announced this year and a 40-storey highrise by Freecity submitted in 2025.
