200m, 60-storey tower plan for Crows Nest Five Ways site
TOWERS of up to 200m could transform the skyline of Crows Nest under an ambitious proposal to build a 60- storey gateway development adjacent to the controversial Sydney Metro.
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TOWERS of up to 200m could transform the skyline of Crows Nest under an ambitious proposal to build a 60-storey gateway development adjacent to the controversial Sydney Metro.
The landmark development would see 750 apartments, along with a hotel and retail opportunities built at the Five Ways Triangle site bounded by Falcon and Alexander streets and the Pacific Highway just 150m from the new Crows Nest Metro station.
Funded by Eastern Property Alliance and designed by Sydney Architecture Studio, the ‘Alexander Slimlines’ proposal seeks to take advantage of the “once in a lifetime opportunity” the Metro station creates for Crows Nest and St Leonards, the proposal’s concept design report said.
“This demands thinking and ideas commensurate with the magnitude of this game-changing opportunity,” the report said.
The development “perfectly aligns with government’s need to grow and maintain employment in the area, while delivering new homes, shops, cafes, and open space. In addition, the scheme suggests a number of innovative solutions to provide critical social infrastructure …” it said.
The DA also proposed extending the pedestrian friendly shopping village along Willoughby Rd to wrap around into Falcon St, redirecting traffic into Alexander St and providing a new focal point for the village.
Eastern Property Alliance spent five years amalgamating the Five Ways sites and now owns or has under contract all but one of the 19 lots.
In June, the North Sydney Local Planning Panel refused to progress the DA as it is waiting on the release of a comprehensive planning study for the St Leonards Crows Nest Priority Precinct in the coming months — especially given the extreme height being proposed. Furthermore, the proposal “has the potential to significantly undermine strategic planning work” currently being undertaken in the area; would result in significantly increased traffic; and makes assumptions which obscures the true impact of the proposal on surrounding development, the panel concluded.
Sydney Architecture Studio’s Tom de Plater said the studio remained committed to a “collaborative design outcome that will address community concerns, governing body directives and the commercial viability for a project of this nature”.
“We believe that the lodged planning proposal was consistent with the interim statement release by the NSW DPE in August 2017 as well as more recent announcements on the precinct released as late as December 2017. Neither our client, nor SAS wish to undermine the efforts of state or local government planning bodies, and we are still eagerly awaiting the findings and subsequent direction for the locality,” Mr de Plater said.
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“SAS believes in everything we design. We can only respond to the parameters we have at our disposal … If, and when, the Crows Nest Planned Precinct study is released, and should it be in contrast to the government’s interim statement released last year, we would anticipate considering that additional information in the context of our planning proposal,” he said.
The proposal was a direct response to the Department of Planning and Environment’s St Leonards and Crows Nest Station Precinct Interim Statement, he said.