Project Sydney: Building a city of dreams - Parramatta in the greatest growth boom in its history
EXCLUSIVE: TWO busloads of people move to Parramatta every week, with good reason, with the city set to become the “Southbank of Sydney” as it makes the most of its prime riverfront location.
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TWO busloads of people move to Parramatta every week, with good reason, with the city set to become the new “Southbank of Sydney” as it finally makes the most of its prime riverfront location.
A PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) study conducted for Parramatta Council, and exclusively obtained by The Daily Telegraph, has identified the massive growth outlook in the next five years for a more sophisticated Parramatta, which will incorporate the numerous riverside and CBD developments.
The study shows Parramatta is in the midst of the greatest growth boom in its history, with the size of the Parramatta CBD economy to jump from its current level of $23 billion to a whopping $30 billion by 2021. Parramatta’s economic growth will also nearly double, from 2.4 per cent currently to 4.6 per cent in five years.
The massive expansion has arrived as the city embraces its riverfront. Thousands of new apartments, along with numerous restaurants, cultural and entertainment premises are being built on the water in an area east of Church St.
This development will be undertaken by a combination of state and local government, and private developers, with direction from the Greater Sydney Commission.
The extensive riverfront development includes residential projects such as the 54-storey Meriton tower, the Lidis Riverside Tower, a host of cafes and restaurants and cultural venues such as the waterfront Powerhouse Museum and a planned redevelopment of Riverside Theatre.
An influx of Parramatta CBD living will supercharge the city’s population growth over the next five years and beyond. The population will grow at twice the Australian average, with 41,000 people moving into Parramatta City by 2021, increasing its population to 271,000.
The City of Parramatta is also in the advanced stages of the development of a 9km cycleway along the river from its CBD to Sydney Olympic Park.
Greater Sydney Commission chief commissioner Lucy Turnbull has told the Telegraph: “In our plans for a growing Parramatta, the river becomes the artery of the green heart of Parramatta, from Westmead and Parramatta North to the Olympic Peninsula.”
Western Sydney Business Chamber boss David Borger said: “Cities with rivers are blessed. Parramatta turned its back on the river for 50 years, but it has a Southbank-style renewal happening along the river, and is now developing a cafe culture that feels like Little Melbourne.”
But growth extends well beyond the river, throughout the city’s booming CBD.
The new Parramatta Square, behind the city’s town hall, will feature myriad new developments. These include Lang Walker’s proposed 90-storey Aspire tower, which will be the tallest residential building in NSW (subject to Civil Aviation approval), along with two office towers, including a proposed 38-storey office building, the largest in Western Sydney, which the NSW Department of Planning may move into.
The square will also feature a 15-storey Western Sydney University campus, which will open early next year.
Development is creating jobs in Parramatta, with PwC predicting it will have a total workforce of 186,000, up 22,000 on current levels.
“The completion of projects such as Parramatta Square will take our city to the next level,” City of Parramatta CEO Greg Dyer said.
“Over the next five years our CBD will be one-third larger than it is today.”
Christopher Brown, chairman of the Western Sydney Leadership Dialogue, said: “Parramatta Square is Western Sydney’s Barangaroo. This is the place to attract global businesses, five-star restaurants and public art.”
Emily Delaney, 21, and her boyfriend Daniel Ague-Gilivert, 24, like to lunch on the grass by the Parramatta River and are eagerly awaiting the makeover: “I’m really looking forward to some new places opening up.”
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