Metrics Credit Partners teams up with Billbergia Group for $3bn Sydney twin towers project

Debt house Metrics has stepped up as a joint venture partner with developer Billbergia on a $3bn luxury residential project overlooking Hyde Park in the heart of Sydney.

Artists impressions of Metrics Credit Partners and Billbergia Group’s proposed twin towers project in Sydney.

Private credit and real estate group Metrics Credit Partners has emerged as a joint venture partner on a multi-billion luxury apartment and hotel project to be undertaken by Billbergia Group that will overlook Hyde Park in the heart of Sydney.

The move is a sign of its confidence in the very top end of the apartment market despite the broader slowdown in residential property.

The Australian revealed that Billbergia had secured the site last year as part of a larger trend in which Chinese developers were selling off large Australian property developments that they planned but did not complete.

The site was bought from offshore company Han’s Holdings Group, which had assembled the site for a $3bn p­roject.That private group quietly dumped plans for a dramatic 80-storey twin-tower scheme in the mid-town precinct of Sydney’s central business district, instead selling the site in an off-market deal brokered by HOME789 chief executive Walton Chu.

The purchase of the amalgamated site for more than $500m ended a quest by overseas groups to put together a property where twin apartment skyscrapers comparable in style to New York’s World Trade Center can be developed.

With the Chinese group no longer in the picture the local pair are keen to get on with the project.

Artists impressions of Metrics Credit Partners and Billbergia Group’s proposed twin towers project in Sydney.

It is Billbergia’s first foray into the Sydney CBD and comes on the back of the company’s 50-storey 88 Walker project in North Sydney that was also delivered in conjunction with Metrics.

Metrics is the largest private credit investor in the Australian real estate sector and manages real estate debt of about $12bn.

Their company, Central Sydney Property Pty Ltd, recently finalised the acquisition of the 6,000sq m site.

The site was one of the largest ever sold in Sydney’s Midtown district and the block is bound by Pitt, Castlereagh and Liverpool streets. Formerly known as 338 Pitt Street, the huge site was consolidated between 2015 and 2019 and comprises 245-247 Castlereagh St, 249-253 Castlereagh St, 324-330 Pitt St, 332-336 Pitt St, 338-348 Pitt St and 126 Liverpool St.

Han’s Holdings won approval for two 80-storey towers, connected via a sky bridge and featuring 592 apartments and a 158-room hotel in 2021. The architectural concept was decided via an international design competition, won by high-profile Australian architects fjcstudio in 2018.

The purchase by the Billbergia-Metrics joint venture is being billed as the latest project in the rapidly-developing area where Deicorp is building a major apartment tower and Charter Hall is seeking backers for a $3bn apartment and hotel project.

The focus of Billbergia-Metrics is on revitalising the Midtown precinct with luxury apartments, premium accommodation, retail facilities and new civic space.

The site sits between Castlereagh and Pitt streets, and their junction with Liverpool St, means the pair can create a large residential mixed-use precinct in Sydney’s CBD. The twin towers will be among the tallest in the Sydney skyline once complete and the apartments will sport park, harbour, and ocean views.

New laneways will also connect Pitt, Liverpool and Castlereagh Streets with a new civic square, complete with outdoor seating, landscaping and integrated public art. The site is also close to the new Gadigal Metro Station.

Billbergia development director Saul Moran said the project stood “at the pinnacle of our journey so far”.

“It provides an unparalleled opportunity to contribute a vision that will transform an underutilised city block into a cutting-edge new urban community with luxury residences supported by premium amenities, quality public domain and active placemaking,” he said.

“The small footprint tower forms nestle into a network of through site links and intimate public spaces addressed and activated by a variety of low scale buildings - a city in microcosm,” he said.

fjcstudio design director Richard Francis-Jones said the podium design was led by fjcstudio in collaboration with Trias, Polly Harbison, and Aileen Sage.