11,000 new homes and shops to be built in Sydney’s north west
More than 11,000 offices, shops and homes will be built in Sydney’s north west, adjacent to eight of the 13 stations on the 36km Metro Northwest rail line within the next decade.
NSW
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Sydney’s newest neighbourhood will begin construction in two years as the first of eight residential and commercial developments along the Metro Northwest rail line from Chatswood to Rouse Hill.
Each community will see developers bidding to build offices, shops and homes on plots where streets, parks and zoning have already been designed by the State government
More than 11,000 homes in the city’s north west will be built adjacent to eight of the 13 stations on the 36km rail line within the next decade.
Construction on the first new community will begin in late 2021, wedged between The Ponds housing estate and Tallawong Station at the end of the line in Rouse Hill.
The NSW Government’s land and property development arm, Landcom, has sold the land neighbouring the Metro station to developer Deicorp Planning, which will build 16 buildings between two and eight storeys tall that will house up to 1100 apartments and a handful of townhouses.
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Landcom will also oversee new developments near stations at Kellyville, Bella Vista, Norwest, Hills Showground, Castle Hill, Cherrybrook and Epping.
Between them, the developments at Tallawong, Kellyville and Bella Vista will see between 6000 and 8000 medium and high density homes built, including apartments, townhouses and terrace-style residences. Construction at the Kellyville and Bella Vista sites is expected to begin in 2022.
The Norwest site, near the Norwest Business Park, will be zoned for corporate offices, co-working facilities, short-term accommodation, pubs and clubs.
While the government will not assume responsibility for construction quality, former state Liberal leader turned Landcom CEO John Brogden was confident the poor design and incompetent builders causing cracks in Sydney high-rises wouldn’t plague the new developments.
“We plan it, we zone it, we put the streets in and the parks, and we sell superlots of land to a big developer who then goes through the application process,” Mr Brogden said.
“The fly-by-night guys can’t afford something this big — we’re dealing with first and second tier operators.”
The sale of the land to developers is a chance for the state government to claw back part of the $7.3 billion spent building the driverless train line.
According to Mr Brogden, there is high demand for apartment-living in the city’s north west once known for mansions on acreage.
“A lot of people will read this story and say ‘isn’t it terrible that families are living in apartments’, but the four-bedroom home and backyard doesn’t suit everybody,” he said.
“I’m really confident there’s people for whom the idea of living next to the railway station will be their idea of heaven.
“Some people will say ‘bugger it, I’m not driving 20 or 30 minutes to the train station, I’ll just move there’.
“It will also allow people who’ve got the big five-bedroom house in Kellyville, whose kids have moved out of home and are sick and tired of mowing the lawn, to move into a three-bedroom apartment with district views right on the rail line so they can easily go to the theatre or movies.”
Of the 1110 apartments and townhouses to be built at Tallawong, up to 55 will be affordable housing for low-income workers, usually discounted up to 25 per cent below market value.
“It’s for the person on the mop in hospital, or retail workers, or waiters and waitresses in restaurants, school assistants,” Mr Brogden said.
Affordable housing is offered to people whose household income is not high enough to pay market rent near where they work, including police officers, nurses and childcare workers — particularly if they are just starting their careers or supporting a family on one income.
The Vora family who live over the road from the Tallawong site said the area was crying out for more local restaurants and cafes.
“This is such a good area to bring up kids because you only have to walk 100m in any direction to find wide open spaces and there are good schools nearby,” Chintan Vora, 38, said.
“But we only have one locally-owned cafe at The Ponds and Rouse Hill Town Centre is too busy.”
Originally published as 11,000 new homes and shops to be built in Sydney’s north west