Green Square is considered to be the most important urban redevelopment project in Sydney and is one of the most exciting and largest urban renewal projects in Australia. The planned urban structure of Green Square Town Centre is a key defining characteristic of the project. This distinguishes it from many other urban centres of Sydney, which have evolved in an ad-hoc manner.

OVERVIEW

Green Square is seen as the most important urban redevelopment project in Sydney at present and is considered to be one of the most exciting and largest urban renewal projects in Australia comprising 278 hectares of land in Sydney’s oldest industrial area.

The area is projected to be home to a resident population of more than 33,000 and more than 28,000 people are expected to work in the area by 2021. Green Square has a rich history and is socially, culturally, economically and physically diverse.

Location

The Green Square area includes the suburbs of Zetland and Beaconsfield, and parts of the suburbs of Alexandria, Rosebery and Waterloo. Its heart will be the new Green Square Town Centre, a site of about 14 hectares, centred at the Green Square Station on the Airport Link Railway.

Located just 4kms south of Sydney CBD with its world class attractions such as the Sydney Opera House and the Harbour Bridge, as well as Chinatown, Star City Casino and the plethora of shopping that comes with Sydney being recently voted in the top 10 cities to live in the world. The beaches of Bondi, Coogee and Clovelly are close by, as are the magnificent parklands of Centennial and Moore Parks, Sydney Cricket Ground and Randwick Racecourse.

Vision

The vision is to transform Green Square into an attractive, vibrant and sustainable urban community. Four key objectives sustain the vision: diversity, connectivity, interdependency and long term growth. Planning for the renewal of the Green Square area began in 1995 with approvals happening in April 2006. There is a constant review of planning for the area to ensure the area delivers on these four objectives. This is in the form of on-going implementation, evaluation and refinement of planning controls, site-specific development applications and site redevelopment to ensure product and build quality is of the highest standards.

Major Employment Hub

Population growth predictions means 55,000 new homes are allocated to the City of Sydney Local Government Area (LGA) and 58,000 new jobs, with 14,000 new jobs specifically identified for Green Square (or 24% of total jobs).

Residential Trends

Research shows that units are fast becoming the preferred choice of accommodation and have outperformed housing in capital growth in recent times due to several factors including affordability, lifestyle choice, low maintenance and environmentally sustainable design principles incorporated into new builds. For example, older style two bedroom terrace houses without parking would currently sell for over $700,000 in surrounding suburbs, whereas it is possible to purchase a brand new luxury apartment with parking for under $700,000 within Victoria Park. This has driven demand as thirty-something owners and tenants seek to move closer to the CBD and live in modern accommodation.

Capital Growth

Victoria Park grew at a staggering rate of 17.8% over the last 12 months (RPData) and has an extremely low vacancy rate of only 0.4%. BIS Shrapnel have predicted Sydney to grow by 20% over the next 3 years which puts it ahead of Melbourne (9%) and Brisbane (15%). Prices are expected to rise, underpinned by a deficiency of dwelling stocks across most capital cities, leading to tight vacancy rates and solid rental growth, flowing through to increased investor demand.

(Source: Realogic Research)