Stockland chases partner for North Sydney’s tallest tower

An artist’s impression of Stockland’s Affinity Place project in North Sydney.

Property heavyweight Stockland is looking for a capital partner on its planned $1.5bn office tower in North Sydney as it steps up its commercial development pipeline.

The company has made bringing in capital partners on key projects a priority and has launched the M_Park facility in Sydney’s Macquarie Park with the backing of Canadian group Ivanhoé Cambridge.

Stockland CEO Tarun Gupta is looking to speed the development pipeline by taking on capital partners that can aid the company’s projects, with Japan’s Mitsubishi Estate Asia already backing its land lease business.

The listed group has tapped real estate agencies CBRE and Colliers to handle the process to find a take out partner for a stake in the project. It is banking on big capital backing the rejuvenation of North Sydney where a series of skyscrapers have been proposed to capitalise on the new metro station.

Developers believe that a new wave of prime grade office space will accommodate top tenants who are looking to get their workers back into offices. International investors are backing their ambitions.

Rival developer Lendlease is already in talks with Japanese trading house Mitsubishi about taking a 25 per cent stake in the $1.4bn Victoria Cross Tower planned above the station.

Stockland’s site is one of the best in the area and the development at 110-122 Walker St, which is known as Affinity Place, will become North Sydney‘s tallest tower.

The complex will span 59,000sq m of net lettable commercial office and retail space and sport campus style 1200sq m floor plates, a rooftop sky garden, and views of Sydney Harbour across to the CBD.

Stockland’s Affinity Place project in North Sydney

The project, which brings together three sites, is in a prime location in the North Sydney CBD, has attracted early interest from potential tenants. The site is just 200m from the new Victoria Cross metro station. Stockland first unveiled the project in 2019, signalling it was making a return to office developments when it unveiled the site amalgamation play in North Sydney. It struck agreements to acquire two office blocks in North Sydney, adjacent to its existing office building at 110 Walker St, for a combined price of $121m, creating a site of almost 2300sq m.

The area has seen a surge of interest from major developers with listed companies including Lendlease and GPT also proposing towers, alongside private players Pro-Invest and Third.i Group.

Stockland last month topped out its first building at M_Park in Macquarie Park. The nine-storey building at 11 Khartoum Rd at Macquarie Park, designed by global architecture firm 3XN, is the first of four – three office buildings plus a data centre – in the precinct‘s first stage. It is being developed in partnership with Ivanhoé Cambridge, as part of a $2bn mixed-use project that will span 7ha.

Hearing healthcare and technology group Demant will join WiSE Medical at the park. WiSE Medical now occupies a building that will be demolished to make way for the other two office buildings in the first stage, including Johnson & Johnson’s new headquarters.

“Activating our $5.8bn workplace development pipeline allows the opportunity to create low carbon workplaces designed for productivity and wellbeing,” a Stockland spokeswoman said.

“Development design for Affinity Place in North Sydney is continuing, and construction is progressing at Stage 1 of our M_Park precinct in Macquarie Park, with pre-leasing at 66 per cent,” she said.