Billbergia, Metrics’ $3.5bn Castlereagh Place in Sydney CBD Waved Ahead

The 6000sq m site was acquired by the partners in 2024 for a reported $500 million.

It is the largest amalgamated land parcel in the Sydney CBD and comprises eight individual sites fronting Castlereagh, Pitt and Liverpool streets.

“Castlereagh Place will transform an underutilised city block into a landmark mixed-use destination, anchored by two 82-storey towers comprising 607 luxury residences above an 8-level podium housing a 209-room luxury hotel,” the partners said.

A 1000sq m civic park on ground level will feature a curated mix of food, beverage and retail.

“The plans have been refined over the past year to rebalance the residential and hotel offering, and reconfigure the retail footprint to create a stronger, more dynamic dining experience,” they said.

“A three-level flagship building on the prominent corner of Pitt and Liverpool streets will be the gateway to the Castlereagh Place lifestyle precinct ... housing multiple hospitality venues.”

The partners said Castlereagh Place was designed to be “the city’s next great urban oasis—an energetic mixed-use precinct that pulses with life, day and night”.

Billbergia group director Joseph Kinsella said it would “bring the vibrancy of places like Barangaroo and Darling Quarter into a more accessible, central destination at the very heart of Sydney”.

▲ A rendering of the approved precinct in Sydney’s Midtown that will include two 82-storey apartment highrises.

“It will build on Sydney’s growing laneway culture with the city’s largest network of new activated lanes—an expanded, next-generation take on precincts like Angel Place, Palings Lane and Ash Street at Wynyard,” he said.

Castlereagh Place has been designed by architects fjcstudio in collaboration with Trias Studio, Aileen Sage and Polly Harbison Design, joint winners of an international design competition in 2018.

Signature design elements from the original scheme remain unchanged, while the public domain has been significantly enhanced, delivering 60 per cent more open-to-sky space.

Earlier plans for a skybridge were shelved in July last year.

Pedestrian access will be enhanced through new laneways linking Pitt, Liverpool and Castlereagh streets, drawing people into a new civic park with outdoor seating, landscaping and integrated public art, the partners said.

It is the largest undertaking to date for the Billbergia and Metrics Credit Partners joint venture.

Together they are developing other Sydney sites into mixed-use precincts, including the $2.2-billion Concord Central and the $1.3-billion Chatswood Grand Residences.Metrics managing partner and group chief executive Andrew Lockhart said that “Castlereagh Place was “a landmark project that will redefine Sydney’s skyline”.

“As the tallest residential highrise development, the revitalised site will offer panoramic views across the CBD and surrounds”.

▲ Castlereagh Place was designed by architects fjcstudio in collaboration with Trias Studio, Aileen Sage and Polly Harbison Design.

Aligned to growing market demand, the partners said, Castlereagh Place will comprise 299 three-plus-bedroom apartments, 198 two-bedroom units and 110 one-bedroom homes.

Resident amenities will include an exclusive residents club containing a gymnasium, rooftop pool, dining rooms, co-working spaces, library, golf simulator, games room, cinema room, and access to an exclusive concierge service. There will be around 500 basement car spaces below the towers.

The development will also include a state-of-the-art wellness centre with a bathhouse offering magnesium pools, hot-cold plunge pools and premium amenities.

According to fjcstudio, the towers will feature distinctive yet elegant architectural design reflecting Sydney’s geometry and urban character, with a network of through-site links and intimate public spaces activating the streetscape.

“Castlereagh Place is a city-making project of significant scale and ambition. It will create a rich urban complex of public open spaces, landscaped gardens, and vibrant laneways,” fjcstudio design director Richard Francis-Jones said.

“Defining these new public spaces and the important streetscape of Castlereagh Street is a sequence of fine-grained, diverse retail and hotel architecture designed in collaboration with Aileen Sage, Polly Harbison Design and Trias.

“Rising above the tree-lined, human-scale streetscape are two slender residential towers that will transform the city skyline and look towards the Harbour, Hyde Park, and the Royal Botanic Garden.”