Victoria Cross filling up as tenants lured to $1.2bn Lendlease tower in North Sydney
An artist’s view of Victoria Cross Station. A 42-storey commercial space will be perched on top of the station, in what will be North Sydney’s tallest building.
Lendlease’s office development ambitions are poised for a major boost as it has struck a deal with British advertising and communications agency WPP to anchor its planned $1.2bn tower in North Sydney.
The company won the rights to develop the next-generation tower, to be built above Victoria Cross station four years ago and has billed the project as helping to redefine the North Sydney market.
The brief for WPP was chased by developers for years but its office consolidation plans had to await a corporate play in which local offshoot WPP AUNZ was merged with WPP last May.
While the parties declined to comment as the precommitment is at an early stage, it will give Lendlease confidence to push ahead with the tower.
It is also targeting other tenants including TPG Telecom, as Vodafone occupies a nearby tower in North Sydney. TPG and Vodafone Hutchison Australia also merged last year, with the new company, called TPG Telecom Ltd, occupying space around the city and suburbs.
TPG is believed to be looking at a number of options as developers pitch new buildings for the merged entity to occupy.
CBRE and JLL are advising on the leasing but declined to comment.
Lendlease put its stamp on North Sydney’s office market last December with the acquisition of a boutique office development in Blue Street, giving it the capacity to house both large corporates and smaller tenants.
An artist’s view of the Victoria Cross project in North Sydney.
The company’s funds unit picked up the 14,000sq m development from the private Third.i Group, which assembled the site and kicked off works with ambitions to finish the complex by mid-2023.
Lendlease also drafted in a capital partner, Singapore’s Keppel REIT, which bought the A-grade tower for $327.7m on an initial yield of 4.5 per cent. The pair are now chasing tenants for the Blue & William project. The firm was then mooted to have a requirement for about 14,000sq m but its final needs may be lower than this. While TPG is a longer-term prospect it is committed to the area.
The “Vodafone Central” headquarters were built in North Sydney at 177 Pacific Highway in 2016. It occupies eight floors across about 10,000sq m, in a move that brought together its former North Sydney and Chatswood offices into one location.
Victoria Cross will be one the area’s largest towers, with the 40-storey office building and its retail elements to span about 58,000sq m of space overall. It will sport good connections via the Sydney Metro railway network being integrated into the project.
The design includes premium grade services and Sydney Harbour Bridge and CBD views from mid and high rise levels. The project will also create a thriving retail activated laneway precinct.
In late 2019, Lendlease sold a 25 per cent joint venture interest in the Victoria Cross overstation development to its managed vehicle, Australian Prime Property Fund Commercial. In 2018, Lendlease won the $476m contract to deliver a new metro railway station in North Sydney and the office building above it.
