$3.5 billion Castlereagh Place approved: Billbergia to build Sydney CBD's tallest residential towers

The City of Sydney has given the green light to Billbergia Group and Metrics Credit Partners' $3.5 billion Castlereagh Place. 

The mixed-use development will deliver 607 luxury residences across two 82-storey towers, a 209-room hotel and a new civic park in the heart of the CBD, with demolition and early construction works already underway.

The towers will be among the tallest in Sydney's CBD, with more floors than any other residential tower in the city.

The 6,000-square-metre site was acquired by the joint venture partners in 2024. 

It is the largest amalgamated land parcel in the Sydney CBD and comprises eight individual sites fronting Castlereagh, Pitt and Liverpool Streets.

 A 1,000 square metre civic park on ground level features a curated mix of food, beverage and retail.

The plans have been refined over the past year to rebalance the residential and hotel offering, and reconfigure the retail footprint to create a stronger, more dynamic dining experience.

A three-level flagship building on the prominent corner of Pitt and Liverpool Streets will be the gateway to the Castlereagh Place lifestyle precinct. 

“Castlereagh Place is designed to be the City's next great urban oasis - an energetic mixed-use precinct that pulses with life, day and night," said Joseph Kinsella, group director of Billbergia.

"It will bring the vibrancy of places like Barangaroo and Darling Quarter into a more accessible, central destination at the very heart of Sydney.

“It will build on Sydney’s growing laneway culture with the City’s largest network of new activated lanes - an expanded, next-generation take on precincts like Angel Place, Palings Lane and Ash Street in Wynyard."

Castlereagh Place has been designed by architects fjcstudio in collaboration with Trias Studio, Aileen Sage and Polly Harbison Design, joint winners of an international design competition in 2018.

Signature design elements from the original scheme remain unchanged, while the public domain has been significantly enhanced, delivering 60% more open-to-sky space.

With activated laneways supported by strong hospitality offerings, Castlereagh Place is tipped to become a vibrant new dining destination in the heart of Sydney’s CBD. It marks the largest undertaking to date for the Billbergia and Metrics Credit Partners Joint Venture.

Together they are developing other underutilised Sydney sites into cutting-edge mixed-use precincts, including the $2.2 billion Concord Central and the $1.3 billion Chatswood Grand Residences.

“Castlereagh Place is a landmark project that will redefine Sydney’s skyline," said Metrics managing partner and group CEO, Andrew Lockhart.

"As the tallest residential high-rise development, the revitalised site will offer panoramic views across the CBD and surrounds. 

"We are excited to partner with Billbergia to reinvigorate an underutilised site and create a sophisticated and contemporary mixed-use offering situated in the heart of Sydney.”

Aligned to growing market demand, Castlereagh Place now comprises 299 three-plus-bedroom apartments, 198 two-bedroom units and 110 one-bedroom configurations.

Apartments will offer views across Sydney's CBD, Sydney Harbour and beyond, with upper-floor apartments offering unobstructed 360-degree views across Sydney, setting a new benchmark for CBD living.

Resident amenities will include an exclusive residents club containing a gymnasium, rooftop pool, state-of-the-art magnesium pools, hot/cold plunge pools, dining rooms, co-working spaces, library, golf simulator, games room, cinema room, and access to an exclusive concierge service. There will be around 500 basement car spaces below the towers.

Richard Francis-Jones, design director at fjcstudio, said the towers will feature distinctive yet elegant architectural
design reflecting Sydney’s geometry and urban character, with a network of through- site links and intimate public spaces activating the streetscape.

"Castlereagh Place is a city-making project of significant scale and ambition, " said Richard.

"It will create a rich urban complex of public open spaces, landscaped gardens, and vibrant laneways. 

"Defining these new public spaces and the important streetscape of Castlereagh Street is a sequence of fine-grained, diverse retail and hotel architecture designed in collaboration with Aileen Sage, Polly Harbison Design and Trias.

“Rising above the tree-lined, human-scale streetscape are two slender residential towers that will transform the city skyline and look towards the Harbour, Hyde Park, and the Royal Botanic Garden.”

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