Why Sydney's Castle Residences are the closest you can get to life in a Manhattan hotel

Sydney is set to get a dose of Manhattan style, with a new luxury apartment building one block from Hyde Park.

The Candalepas Associates-designed Castle Residences from developer Shanghai United combines proximity to the park’s western edge with five-star hotel services and easy access to some of the CBD’s best shops and restaurants.

“Like celebrated apartment buildings on New York’s Central Park or London’s Hyde Park, these homes offer world-class luxury and convenience,” says CBRE managing director David Milton.

“From the future high-rise residential tower the Greenland Centre to the new light rail and Castlereagh Street’s premium shopping district, this area of the city is undergoing a renaissance.”

The $380-million project elegantly pairs past and present through the transformation of the heritage-listed Porter House into a five-star MGallery boutique hotel below a 36-storey residential tower.

The five-storey Porter House with sandstone facade and arched windows was built in 1876 for the Dixson & Sons tobacco company and is a rare surviving example of a commercial building in the city centre.

Inside, pressed metal ceilings and an art-deco marble staircase are among the heritage highlights.

Architect Angelo Candalepas says the new building will weave an unforgettable corner into the street. “I can imagine, in years to come, that Porter House and the new tower building will merge into one in people’s consciousness as if the entire assembly always coexisted.”

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While the architecture takes inspiration from the site’s mercantile past, renderings reveal the upper levels will appear from the outside as a dramatic oasis with lush hanging gardens of Babylon-style plantings from stepped terraces.

Candalepas says new buildings should offer more green landscaping to the city. “There would be nothing more attractive than a city full of towers with greenery,” he says.

For a fee, residents can access hotel services such as in-residence catering and room service, housekeeping and maintenance via a personalised iPad app.

Taxi, restaurant, dry-cleaning, courier and laundry bookings, as well as parcel collection and valet parking, will be available. Hotel facilities include a pool, gym, business centre, restaurants and bars.

Sales of apartments in Castle Residences started last year, with the penthouse selling for $18 million before the official launch.

However, there is a three-bedroom sub-penthouse with terrace available, with a guide of $8.5 million on the north-east corner, sharing a floor with just one other residence. About a quarter of the apartments in the project are still for sale.