More than $2.5 billion of investment is emerging on North Sydney's skyline after a decade-long push by the local council to cement the business district on the northern side of the bridge as an economic power.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
At least two skyscrapers, including a $200 million 44-level tower in the heart of North Sydney on Mount Street and a 30-storey commercial tower on Denison Street, are set to rise in the next few years.
Those towers will follow a rash of recent development. Since 2012, approval has been given to five commercial and 14 residential buildings.
The council's director of city strategy, Joseph Hill, said the recent boom was underpinned by a decade-long effort within the council to draw commercial development into the CBD.
After a period of lagging growth across North Sydney, the council "started looking seriously at the CBD" around 2005 for the next wave of development, he said.
"We've spent 10 years doing the work," Mr Hill said, adding it was now "coming together very swiftly". The value of the approvals granted since 2012 amounts to about $2.5 billion.
Mayor Jilly Gibson said North Sydney had woken from a "deep slumber" and was now mirroring the construction reshaping Sydney's inner and western suburbs.
"Walk around North Sydney and the multitude of cranes is evidence our CBD is thriving," Cr Gibson said.
Already completed is a 30-storey office tower on the Pacific Highway, which claimed the mantle as North Sydney's tallest building when it opened late last year.
The boom has coincided with the council's latest project to redevelop the Ward Street precinct at the northern end of the CBD, converting the area into a new public space with more residential and commercial blocks.
A master plan for the site is expected to be placed on public exhibition next week.
