ApartmentsVanessa CrollWed 22 Jul 26
Aqualand’s $155m Chatswood Highrise Pivot Raises Yield Fivefold
A Sydney luxury tower first envisioned with just 24 whole-floor residences has re-emerged with almost five times as many homes under New South Wales’ housing acceleration pathway.
Behind the shift is Aqualand’s prestige arm, which publicly earmarked the 1767sq m site at 51-55 Archer Street, Chatswood for a 35-storey boutique project in 2024.
Now on exhibition until August 14, plans filed by AB Chatswood Pty Ltd—wholly owned by Aqualand Holding—seek a $155-million, 45-storey tower containing 114 apartments, including 51 affordable homes.
While the planned yield has climbed 375 per cent, the luxury product hasn’t disappeared.
The PTW-designed scheme proposes 50 three-bedroom apartments in the tower, topped by 12 two-storey, four-bedroom residences with a 5200L outdoor pool apiece.
A four-bedroom home with a 9180L pool would occupy level 44.
Below, all 51 affordable apartments would be grouped across six residential floors of a seven-storey podium, putting almost 45 per cent of the project’s homes beneath the 63 market apartments.
Plans show separate residential lobbies for each tenure, although all residents would have access to ground-floor facilities including a swimming pool and communal space.
The affordable mix comprises six studios, 27 one-bedroom and 18 two-bedroom apartments.
Twenty would be permanently dedicated to the Willoughby City Council, meeting a requirement for 10 per cent of project floor space, while Bridge Housing would manage the remaining 31 as affordable rentals for at least 15 years.
The latest design is one of several prepared for the holding, about 8km north of central Sydney and an 800m walk from Chatswood’s rail, Metro and bus interchange.
Aqualand’s first public concept envisaged a 117m-high building with 24 whole-floor apartments and an estimated $270-million end value.
A design competition later produced a 35-storey PTW Architects and Aspect Studios scheme containing 73 apartments and 1501.7sq m of non-residential space.
Before the competition concluded, Aqualand took a 100-home version to the NSW Housing Delivery Authority in March, 2025.
The authority deferred the proposal in June, then recommended state-significant status the following month while flagging Chatswood’s infrastructure capacity, developer contributions and public benefits.
Planning minister Paul Scully made the declaration on July 23, 2025 allowing the development and required rezoning to progress together through state assessment.
PTW was retained for the latest redesign, but its competition-winning scheme was dropped as the building grew to 152.85m and 114 homes.
Accommodating the increase requires more than additional height.
A concurrent rezoning would lift the site’s floor-space ratio from 5:1 to 8.45:1, replace split 23m and 90m height controls with a maximum 154.15m envelope and remove active-frontage and non-residential requirements.
Current controls require at least 17 per cent of floor space to carry commercial or other non-residential uses.
Aqualand’s planning documents cited Chatswood’s 20.2 per cent office vacancy in July of 2025, weak foot traffic on the CBD fringe and underperforming retail beneath newer apartment buildings to argue more commercial space would be unviable.
Six basement levels would contain 136 car spaces, while plans provide 525sq m of landscaping and 456sq m of communal open space.
Four homes across three existing buildings would be demolished.
The proposal would join a rising cluster along Archer Street, with Coronation Property’s approved 32-storey project at 57–61 Archer Street immediately north and Hyecorp’s tower at 37 Archer Street about 30m south.
