Greaton to sell St Leonards site for $100 million

The 7643sq m site carved out of 14 houses and bounded by Holdsworth Avenue, Berry Road and River Road will be sold with a prepared development scheme known as “Project River” which outlines plans for 252 apartments.

The units will be spread across 10 floors over four buildings or about 21,000sq m in gross floor area.

Renders of the proposed development on Greaton’s site in St Leonards.
Renders of the proposed development on Greaton’s site in St Leonards.
One- to three-bedroom apartments as well as terrace units are on offer.

It was a race to get large sites like these in St Leonards after Lane Cove council released the St Leonards South residential precinct plan to revitalise the area and rezone low-rise into high rise sites just over two years ago.

Developers like Country Garden, JQZ, Loftex and Mirvac all circled the area for the best amalgamated sites involving long-drawn processes to get owners to sell their homes in one line.

The drawcard of the area is rail transport. St Leonards will be serviced by heavy rail and the Sydney Metro at a new station 800 metres away in Crows Nest.

Greaton bought its site for about $60 million two years ago.

It is understood that Greaton has also entered into discussions to co-own the site across the road on Berry Street, Park and River Roads with Country Garden.

In 2016, Country Garden bought that site for about $45 million under a put and call option.

The slow re-zoning process of the area could be one of the reasons for the sale. While the masterplan is finalised, changes to the local environmental plans is still pending until at least June next year.

So far, only a few sites in St Leonards have been properly rezoned, with construction commenced on those sites including Mirvac’s St Leonards Square and New Hope’s The Landmark on the Pacific Highway closer to the train station.