First look exclusive: Caydon lodge Parramatta apartment tower plans to flip project
The collapsed apartment developer Caydon Property has filed plans for a massive 36-level tower in Harris Park, bordering Parramatta, just days after listing the prime development site for sale.
The 1,818 sqm site at 114-118 Harris Street is just 850m from Parramatta Train station, 750m from the Parramatta Ferry and 240m from the new Parramatta Light Rail stop.
The documents submitted to the Parramatta City Council are dated across May and June, a month before it was announced the Melbourne-based developer collapsed.
MHNDU, led by Brian Meyerson, won the Parramatta City Council’s Architectural Design Excellence Competition for the project, dubbed Clay Cliff Point due to its location adjacent to Clay Cliff Creek, an important water way for the Burramattagal people of Parramatta.
"With an intrinsic connection to place as a guiding principle for our design, we are taking inspiration from the nearby waterway to attune the significant multi- residential building with its surrounding natural landscape," MHNDU said on the design.
"As part of our overall concept, we are devising a re-naturalisation of the nearby Clay Cliff Creek. By investing in the regeneration of this ecosystem, we envisage that our development will enhance the ecological condition of the waterway and provide public amenity for the broader community. "
There are 203 apartments planned, a mix of 38 one-beds, 142 two-bedders, and 23 three-bed apartments. There's also a marked effort for public artworks to engage the wider community.
"The heritage of Parramatta is perhaps amongst the richest in the State, but struggles with the primacy of change and that change sometimes overwhelms the scale and nature of the 18th, 19th & 20th century heritage and its fabric," Cracknell & Lonergan Architects noted in the documents submitted.
"The three proposed visual artists, Brendan Van Hek, Justene Williams and Gemma Smith are all contemporary Sydney based artists with nationally recognised public artworks/ installations. Through a public art proposal these stories can be retold in a contemporary and didactic manner to inspire and educate occupants of, and visitors to the building."
The plans include a large ground floor retail space and four commercial spaces on level one, which will within a red brick podium. The communal facilities will be located on level four, with a pool, gym, sauna, steam room and function room proposed.
Caydon collapsed in July owing debts of a reported $200 million.