One Central Park - continued...

The Analysis

 
The 16 storey west tower floor plate contains a combination of four 2 bedroom dual key apartments – one in each corner of the building, eight 1 bedroom suites, six 1 bedroom apartments, and two 2 bedroom apartments, both facing the pool and the east tower. The 1 bedroom apartments and suites offer compact city living with a fairly generous open plan kitchen, living and dining room and a balcony the full width of the apartment. There has been more thought put into the interior design of the apartments than most residential developments. The corridor walls, kitchen corners, and bedroom corners have all been ‘rounded off’ or ‘de-cornered’ by the clever integration of a glossy ‘pod’ that acts as a secondary curving wall that, when opened, reveals neat storage spaces.  These west tower interiors have been designed by William Smart (Smart Design Studio) with two finishes options available – “one nautical with fine timber joinery and one more automotive with the dashboard finesse of a luxury car.” (1)

The 33 storey east tower contains a combination of three 2 bedroom dual key apartments, four 1 bedroom apartments, three 2 bedroom apartments, and four 1 bedroom dual key apartments. As with the west tower the 2 bed dual key apartments are located in the corners of the floor plate, except for the north-east corner which houses a 1 bedroom apartment.  The layout of the apartments follows the same principles as the west tower, with good consideration given to the maximisation of natural light into the apartments. This is done in part by providing some narrow slits into the floor plate to allow apartments to have natural light. Some of the dual key apartments have what feels in reality, and what looks like on plan, a lot of wasted corridor space. 

 Kitchen and the glossy 'pod'

 Clever but slightly useless cupboard concealed behind the glossy 'pod'

The 1 bedroom dual key apartments are effectively two self-contained 1 bedroom studio apartments with kitchen, bathroom and living area, each with a front door within the single address. Similarly the 2 bedroom dual key apartments offer a single front door, a very long corridor leading to two more front doors. Behind one door is a 1 bedroom open plan studio identical to the 1bed dual key studio. Behind the other front door is larger apartment with 1 bedroom and even a generous alcove for a study space, very similar to the 1 bedroom apartment plan.

 Study alcove in the one of the dual-

key apartments

The east tower interiors have been designed by Koichi Takada and are more relaxed and classic than the heady gloss and colour of the Smart interiors. Takada has produced a slower-paced, muted and earthy living space using timber screens to divide spaces, and materials such as “driftwood, hammered stone, linen and woven grasses matched with copper and bronze.” (1)

 The muted Koichi Takada interior finishes

Open kitchen with slatted timber panels

Subtle stone-tiled bathroom with mirrored 

walls and a wall-mounted toilet

The off-the-plan sales prices we were given in September 2010 seemed surprisingly less than the astronomical prices we had envisaged before our inspection. The amazing location, the future amenities and parkland, the promise of not just quality but the assurance of many tried and tested design minds, and the attempt to create something bold and innovative, all suggest a high sale price. And of course, there is a range of prices with some at the luxury end of the scale, and others at the high-priced but affordable end. For example, the 2 bedroom east-facing apartment on Level 6 of the east tower is $870,000. A 1 bedroom dual apartment in the east tower, facing west, looking over the pool and the west tower, is priced at $920,000. While the south-east 2 bedroom dual key on Level 22 in the east tower is set at $1,170,000 – which is starting to seem to be a high-price to pay for a two bedroom apartment. However, the clever use of dual key apartments has made the development attractive to those who would wish to live in the complex whilst subsidising their costs by sub-letting the attached 1 bedroom apartment. 

From an investment point-of-view, given the location, the quality of the architecture and the finishes, and in light of the gradual development of other inner-city pockets it surely will become an increasingly sought-after  place to live.
The Stats

Summary of apartments sizes (typical)*

West Tower 

East Tower

 

*There are variations between apartments and between levels, but this gives an indicative overview.
** Prices not obtained

One Central Park

The old Kent Brewery on Broadway in Sydney is finally being prepared for the construction of two residential towers, designed by French architects Ateliers Jean Nouvel, and commissioned by developers Frasers Property, which is the first stage of a wider masterplan of the site, which will include a 6,400 sqm park named Central Park.

 South view of One Central Park across the proposed 

6,400 sqm park, and Jean Nouvel looking on... 

These two towers are the first stages of what is a 2 billion dollar masterplan development by Frasers Property, with eleven buildings and 1,800 apartments intended for the completed site. The Central Park development is a conglomerate of residential commercial and retail spaces. A mini enclave in the city-edge location, this development surpasses previous Sydney city developments when you take into account the scale, the prime location, and the ambition demonstrated by the developers invitation to a series of international and local design collaborators to contribute their vision to the masterplan.

The apartments in what is to become known as One Central Park are currently available for purchase off-the-plan, with display suites open for inspection on site. We are reviewing the two glass towers containing the 560 apartments that is the flagship of the residential component of this development.

One Central Park website

The site is located on the southern periphery of the Sydney CBD, nestled in between two universities in Sydney's lost bohemian heart, as touted by Frasers. The student culture coupled with the funky creative types produce an eclectic concoction of Bohemia. The Kent Brewery sits across 5.4 hectares of what ex-brewery worker Mr Walsmley described so aptly as a "large island of industry stranded in Sydney's central residential revival". SMH (2003) This ‘residential revival’ will need to fuse the student culture, the funky design industries and the inevitable influx of yuppies in a way that retains the gritty, industrial feel of the old Chippendale.

Aerial view of the proposed masterplan looking back towards the city

The neighbourly outreach towards the Chippendale precinct, especially its arts community, is heavily emphasised by Frasers. Regardless of the spirit or intention of this plan, the influx of multiple high priced residences may lead to the retreat of the edgier segments of the art industry. It will be a pity if the unique selling point of the eclectic environs could just be priced out altogether. The 3 Warehouse Frasers gallery  will hopefully go some way in addressing this possible imbalance.

Frasers commissioned UK architects Fosters and Partners, Australian architect Richard Johnson (JPW), Jeppe Argaard Andersen (a Danish landscape architect), Patrick Blanc (botanist and artist who has collaborated on many buildings with vertical green walls), Alec Tzannes and Tim Greer (of Tonkin Zulaikha Greer architects from Sydney) and Yann Kersde (a light sculptor from Paris).

The first apartments on sale are in the east and west tower, 33 and 16 storeys high respectively. The towers sit on a six level retail and recreation podium to house a Coles, Harris Farm Market, and other retail outlets. It is also planned that a Fitness First gym will be located in this podium, with free gym membership included for apartment owners. Atop this retail podium is a pool, surrounded on two sides by the east tower and the west tower. Above the pool and surrounding courtyard, suspended on a large cantilever attached to the upper levels of the tower, will be a heliostat – a large surface of fixed and movable mirrors designed to reflect sunlight down into the outdoor spaces below, and into the retail podium.

Green pockets within the towers and the heliostat above, 

cantilevered out from the east tower

At night the heliostat transforms into an LED light installation designed by light artist Yann Kersalé. It is also intended that the heliostat will produce some spectacular lighting effects at night. The towers will also be draped with a living green wall, designed by Patrick Blanc. This will hopefully be a refreshing and quite wonderful sight along the otherwise hard streetscape that is Broadway. 

Next we'll be posting reviews of the east and west tower apartments, including floor plans, photos and otherwise unpublished off-the-plan sale prices.