Crown takes $395 million gamble on rising interest in Sydney's inner-south

 Buyers of new homes are keenly watching state governments for any indication of new investment in the infrastructure of an area before making purchasing decisions.

Where once they may have based their preferences on favourite suburbs, price and design, now they’re looking out for, as a top priority, likely improvements to the public transport network.

And that’s turning regions like the inner-south of Sydney, around Green Square, into a fresh favourite among unit-buyers.

“People are now looking for anywhere the government is spending money on the infrastructure because they know the value of any property they buy close by will increase,” says Crown Group developer Iwan Sunito, who on Wednesday unveiled plans for a new $395 million apartment project in Waterloo.

“Everyone now knows about the government spending $8 billion on redeveloping the Green Square precinct into an entertainment hub so that’s making the area a prime focus. In addition, you have the buses all running from there, the Green Square Station just around the corner, the light rail plans coming up and the new Waterloo Metro station.”

Sunito, the chairman and CEO of Crown Group, was giving Domain a sneak preview of the vision for Waterfall by Crown Group, with 331 apartments across four towers on O’Dea Avenue. Ninety per cent of the 1.2 hectares of the site will be planted and the complex set off by what is set to be Australia’s highest man-made waterfall, dropping nine storeys to the ground from one of the roofs.

But he’s not the only developer anticipating strong demand for property in what’s rapidly becoming NSW’s major new infrastructure hotspot.  

Sydney developers Thirdi Group is converting three heritage buildings into a $107 million, 76-apartment complex called ICONIC Waterloo, with 90 per cent of the units already sold and two penthouses being combined to create a $4,495,000 mega-penthouse. National sales manager Domenic Nesci believes the fact that the suburb is becoming a public transport hub was definitely a turning point to make all that possible. 

“Over the next five years, Waterloo will become a landmark destination suburb because it will have so many transport options with the Metro and new light rail and the trains every four minutes,” he says. “Then there’s the billions of dollars being invested in Green Square creating so much infrastructure.

“It already has a village feel but so many more facilities will follow, more restaurants, cafes, shops, the library. And as a result of all that, you’re getting a lot of high quality properties, like ICONIC, Waterfall and Infinity, and a discerning demographic.” 

Agents are similarly watching the area with interest. Cobden & Hayson agent Brigitte Blackman says at the moment, there may be some being put off from Waterloo by all the development currently going on. But the promise of all that infrastructure is attracting those who are able to see beyond the current construction chaos. 

“The accessibility with all the transport is so much more important now than it’s ever been in the past,” she says. “Traffic is now a nightmare and parking in town is impossible, so somewhere with great transport links is becoming extremely valuable.

“People want to be able to choose not to have a car, and many more in the future will go that way too. So if people can be in a suburb with good links, and particularly when it’s not far to the CBD, they’re suddenly viewing that as hugely valuable.”

Waterfall by Crown Group follows on from the company’s other recent projects which are also in the midst of advanced infrastructure. Infinity by Crown Group is also in Green Square, the 28-storey V by Crown Group that has just completed is in Parramatta and the 22-storey tower Arc by Crown Group is right in the centre of the CBD.

“The infrastructure surrounding a project is always very important to apartment buyers now,” says Prisca Edwards, project director of sales and global capital at Crown Group Holdings. “It will give buyers so much flexibility in their lives in terms of where they want to go which is vitally important. That’s now a very big tick when choosing property.”