ApartmentsPatrick LauWed 01 Jul 26
Freecity’s North Sydney 51-Storey Hotel-and-Homes Scheme Approved
Freecity has won the nod for a 51-storey North Sydney tower that mixes build-to-sell apartments with a hotel.
The scheme replaces a Land & Environment Court approval for a 43-storey commercial tower on the site, which was secured by GPT in November of 2024.
The estimated end value for Freecity’s state-significant project has been revised downwards from $1.78 billion to $1.5 billion since it was touted in September 2025.
The 296-home yield will include a 3 per cent affordable contribution of nine apartments at 153-157 Walker Street, as well as the 170-key hotel, 232 basement car spaces and 414 bicycle spaces.
The ground and lower ground levels will include 707sq m of retail space, while residential amenities including a swimming pool, library and shared kitchen will be located on level 33. The Architectus-designed project will include a landscaped link connecting Walker Street with Little Walker Street and Doris Fitton Park.
Located 200m from Victoria Cross Metro station, the plan is the shift to residential and alternative use in the suburb, which is overweighted in commercial space. A number of office towers continue to transact in the area, however.
Earlier this month, Central Element revealed a reworked Housing Delivery Authority-endorsed plan at 64-66 Lavender Street and 3-7 Middlemiss Street. Dual towers at that site would rise 23 and 32 storeys.
In February, Maville Bay reworked a pre-pandemic approval for a 31-storey “pencil tower” at 173 Pacific Highway and 116 Miller Street. And in January, neighbouring projects at 271-273 Alfred Street and at 275 Alfred Street were progressed, representing $380 million of residential development on former commercial sites.
Meanwhile, in June Freecity began stacking modules on a 20-storey tower at 169-171 Herring Road in Macquarie Park, which would be Australia's tallest pre-fab building. The developer also lodged plans for a 40-storey, 178-home project at 378-398 Pacific Highway, in the Crows Nest TOD.
