Plans Lodged for 39-Storey Tower on North Shore

Plans have been filed for a 39-storey mixed-use tower with a zig-zag podium design in the high-rise development hotspot of St Leonards on Sydney’s North Shore.

Developer Elegant Group’s proposal is for a site spanning 2467sq m at 100 Christie Street and encompassing an area of open space known as Christie Reserve.

The development has an estimated construction cost of more than $123 million and the application will be assessed by North Sydney Council and determined by the Sydney North Planning Panel.

If approved, it would comprise a gross floor area of 24,174sq m with a tower of 184 apartments sitting above a six-storey podium of office and retail space as well as basement car parking.

An 11-storey commercial building now occupying the southern portion of the site would be demolished to make way for the development.

The mixed-use development would help to revitalise St Leonards by providing jobs and housing near frequent public transport, the filed documents said.

It would also deliver public benefits, including extensive landscaping and public domain upgrades to Christie Street Reserve and the footpaths and laneway surrounding the site, the documents said.

The PTW Architects-designed scheme incorporates “a sculpted tower form with rounded corners and a strong horizontal facade expression”.

“The design of the northern facade brings a dynamic aesthetic to Christie Street Reserve, through a sharp zig-zag podium design which is contrasted by the elegant, rounded corners of the tower,” the architectural statement lodged as part of the application said.

Its residential tower component from levels 7 to 38 would include 12 one-bedroom, 132 two-bedroom and 36 three-bedroom apartments as well as four penthouses.

A communal landscaped terrace is planned for the podium rooftop on level 6 and “sky gardens” on the western side of each residential level.

“The podium and the tower blend together through the cohesive choice of materiality and the continuing green spine that transcends from the public park (Christie Street Reserve) through the northern zig-zag podium facade, to the communal garden and up the western side of the tower,” the documents said.

Development activity has ramped up in Sydney’s North Shore hotspots of St Leonards and Crows Nest in recent times with a number of high-density apartment projects earmarked for or under construction in the precinct.

Other significant projects include Top Spring’s approved 1.29ha development The Newlands with 330 apartments and terraces across five towers, Evergreen Property’s three-tower proposal for 211 apartments and 21 townhouses as well as the Dan Family Investments Group’s New Golden International plans for a 13-storey, 104-apartment tower.