GURNER™ to develop luxury Barangaroo apartment towers
Tim Gurner's GURNERTM has secured a trophy site in Sydney's Barangaroo area, with a view to develop two towers of apartments.
The $800 million project at 189 Kent Street is the first seed site to have capital deployed within the developer’s $2 billion Build-to-Sell development fund, which is backed by a global institutional investor.
The 1,195sqm site, which adjoins the Barangaroo precinct, currently houses a commercial office tower that was built in the 1960s, with current tenancies in place that GURNERTM will hold until completion of leases. The site has recently been granted planning approval for a residential development after a lengthy approval process by the site’s vendor Barana Group, who has held the asset since 2002.
This is the second transaction GURNERTM and Barana Group have completed together after GURNERTM first partnered with Barana Group in 2018 to develop St Kilda’s former Novotel site into one of Melbourne’s most exclusive and desired addresses, Saint Moritz. The Kent Street transaction by comparison represents a direct acquisition by GURNERTM, which will not be developed in joint venture like Saint Moritz.
Tim Gurner sees the Barangaroo project an opportunity to bring a Saint Mortiz-level of luxury to Sydney.
“Sydney and this key strategic site in particular is crying out for an ultra-luxury offering like Saint Moritz that transports its owners into a world of luxury and service above anything else in the country, inspired by the best hotels around the world," Gurner said.
“This site is positioned within one of the most expensive and luxurious locations in Australia so we plan to take what we know from Saint Moritz and apply it on a whole new scale, to offer the market something that is completely unique in terms of design, luxury, service and amenity.”
The site has an existing approval in place for two towers, ground-floor retail, restaurants and bars, a health and wellness component, and basement carparking. GURNERTM will now be seeking small amendments to the approval to reduce the number of apartments and increase the amenity provisions, in line with its vision for the site.
Award-winning architect FJC Studio has been appointed as architect, having won a competitive design competition between local and international architects.
The deal was brokered by Justin Brown, Tim Rees and Ben Wicks of CBRE.
Gurner said the team took their time in assessing the project.
“We’re certainly across the challenges the development industry is currently facing in regards to construction and interest rates. We’ve taken a conservative view to pricing and feasibility and feel supremely confident on the fundamentals of this site and its success.
“We have been watching the market very carefully for 18-24 months waiting for the right time to utilise the capital we have at our disposal, waiting for great opportunities knowing we can act quickly for the right sites, with a particular eye on Sydney and Melbourne."
He called Sydney a "very unique market."
“We also know there are different factors at play in Sydney – lack of affordability, scarcity of quality product and depth of the luxury market – that make it far more capable of withstanding the current economic headwinds, so it’s for this reason that we are very confident in the Sydney market and remain bullish on residential property in this blue chip city.
“Across other states it’s the construction and labour costs that are putting pressure on projects, which is why we see Sydney as such a strong opportunity with its higher price-per-square-metre average, motivated buyer pool and sought-after postcodes for offshore and local buyers.
“Sydney is a very unique market with an incredibly low amount of supply and an even smaller opportunity to acquire great sites with harbour views, it is even rarer to be able to transact on a site that also has planning approval ready to go."