'Pretty soulless' area set to transform as St Leonards prepares for double the population in 15 years

The ground was broken on Monday on a new apartment development set to transform a “pretty soulless” area of the lower North Shore into a dynamic new residential suburb.           

With a new Metro station planned for just 150 metres away, as well as a regular heavy rail station about the same distance in the opposite direction, St Leonards is about to receive a new lease of life, said NSW Transport and Infrastructure Minister Andrew Constance. 

“We’ve seen too often across this city, a high concentration of apartment living being put in without appropriate mass transport around the development; you only need to point to South Sydney near Green Square for that to show,” he said.

“But this suburb’s rail network serving these new apartments will allow people to get in and out of town within a matter of minutes, which will be very exciting for residents. There’ll be a train on their doorstep every four minutes.”

Developer Mirvac is starting work on the 526 apartments over two towers in the project christened St Leonards Square. Mirvac CEO and managing director Susan Lloyd-Hurwitz said the buildings and their transport links would reinvent the suburb that had, up until now, been largely commercial and industrial.

“Its population will double over the next 15 years and it will be the new beating heart of the area,” she said. “The whole rejuvenation of St Leonards will move it away from being a pretty soulless area and a transit stop, and into a destination in its own right.”

The 5000 square metre site on the Pacific Highway, 5 kilometres from the Sydney CBD, will contain one 35-storey triangular-shaped tower, and another of 27 storeys, designed by Sissons Architects together with Mirvac Design.

There will be a public plaza in between, with green space and laneways, and there are plans for around 7500 sq m of retail and commercial space, including cafes and a supermarket, on the ground, and lower, floors of the buildings.

It’s expected to be completed in the second half of 2019, but residents will face a five-year wait for their second station; the new Crows Nest Metro station won’t become operational until 2024.

The project was already a success even before the ground-turning ceremony on Monday With more than $8 billion in infrastructure spending proposed for St Leonards, more than 90 per cent of the 220 apartments in the first tower were sold in just one day, with customers queuing from 6am. After the second launch, over 90 per cent of the total were sold.

One of the first buyers was Ms Lloyd-Hurwitz. “I bought a two-bedroom apartment here,” she said. “This has had a very high proportion of Mirvac buyers and our staff are very discerning! I won’t be living there, but maybe a child will use it …”

With the launch nine months ago, however, the apartments were sold before Mirvac’s idea of quarantining a proportion of lower-priced units in a development for first-home buyers, and asking for a deposit of only 5 per cent, in a move to help those struggling to get a toehold in the market.

The company did that for the first time in March this year, setting aside 60 off-the-plan apartments in its 296-unit complex Pavilions at Sydney Olympic Park.

“We’re very proud of that initiative to help first-home buyers and we sold 90 per cent of those apartments in one morning to customers who never expected to be able to buy,” said Ms Lloyd-Hurwitz. “But we hope to roll that idea out across the portfolio in future.”

Over 40 per cent of the buyers this time were repeat Mirvac buyers, keen for a luxury project with facilities such as a 14th-level gym, pool, spa, barbecue terrace, meeting rooms, cinema and music studio.

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Lane Cove mayor Deborah Hutchens said the landmark development, which will provide a new gateway to the suburb, would be a huge boon for those who worked in the area.

“As well as being about to live close to work, there’ll be so much green space for people to enjoy and while it’s a dead space now at weekends, it will be much more alive with restaurants and cafes and things to do.

“It’s a very exciting time for us. We don’t see it as a rival for Crows Nest or North Sydney, but we see it as a place that will complement those centres. It’s a great opportunity for us all.”