September 22, 2015
Sydney Turns Manhattan With its mix of office, residential, retail and hotel space, Sydney’s World Square is a perfect example of the blending of zoning areas. Photo: Steven Siewert
It’s being called the Manhattanisation of our cities, with a mix of apartments, offices, international shops, a vast array of restaurants, new cinemas and laneway bars and cafes.
There will remain a serious side with office towers being given a new lease of life. But amid the suits will be a thriving metropolis. The increasing level of high density living will alter, forever, the fabric and pulse of the city.
Leif Olson and Zelman Ainsworth, of CBRE retail services, have said that in Sydney and Melbourne the supermarkets were expected to focus on leasing the retail space under or near the new apartment towers.
“World Square [in Sydney] is the perfect example of cohesion between office (90,000 square metres), residential (770 apartments), a hotel of 420 rooms and retail (16,000 sqm). It is the No. 1 shopping centre in the country, per square metre per annum of turnover, with the No. 1 Coles in the country per square metre of turnover, and Neil Perry’s burger project has been an outstanding success,” Mr Olson said.
It will be akin to the heaving cities in Asia, where streets are busy long into the night.
