Seven new 21-to-38 floor apartment towers have just been approved for Parramatta. (Well, in Holroyd, on the far side of the M4 Motorway from the Parra CBD.)

It's on land owned by Westrac, which from memory is the company Kerry Stokes (of Channel Seven ownership fame) uses to distribute Caterpillar Trucks.

They'll be built across the road from the Vauxhall Hotel, at the intersection of Parramatta Road, Woodville Rd, and the M4 Motorway onramps. Across the road from the Vauxhall Hotel.

It's a particularly bad spot for public transport as it stands.

You either need to cross a six-lane road and then walk down Parramatta Rd to get to Granville Station.

Or you can cross both Woodville Rd and Parramatta Rd and then walk along the footpath under the M4 then walk north a couple of blocks to get to Harris Park.

Or you need to cross two motorway on-ramps and walk several blocks north and then cross the Great Western Hwy and then walk a couple of blocks north to Parramatta Station.

Not ideal.

Oh, and it's also on a creek bed, with lovely views of the M4.

"A $1.2-billion precinct proposed for Parramatta has been waved ahead.

"WA-based developer Tiberius’ contentious seven-tower plan for 1 Crescent Street, Holroyd has now been approved by the NSW Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure.

"The SSD development, known as Crescent Parklands, will rise on a site previously an industrial facility that has remained largely vacant since 2018 when WesTrac, one of the world’s largest Caterpillar earthmoving equipment dealers, moved out.

"Designed by Woods Bagot, the greenlit precinct’s towers will rise between 21 and 38 storeys and create 1227 apartments.

"Building A is 38 storeys with 240 apartments, Building B is 32 storeys with 200 apartments, Building C is 30 storeys with 180 apartments, Building D is 28 storeys with 170 apartments, Building E is 25 storeys with 160 apartments, Building F is 22 storeys with 137 apartments, and Building G is 21 storeys with 140 apartments.

"Of the apartments across the precinct, 201 are designated as in-fill affordable housing.

"The precinct will also include 2500sq m of retail floorspace and 5000sq m of commercial floorspace.

"Communal open space will be provided at ground and rooftop levels, while above-ground car parking accommodates 1617 vehicles."
...
"The plans were originally associated with ACE Property, the development arm of media entrepreneur Ryan Stokes, chief executive of Seven, according to media reports. It is unclear when the project changed hands."

https://www.theurbandeveloper.com/articles/parramatta-tiberius-1-2bn-seven-towers-approved-nsw

#Parramatta #WesternSydney #housing #housingcrisis #NSW #Holroyd #Australia #Urbanism #cities #UrbanPlanning
Tiberius Approved for $1.2bn Precinct at Parramatta

The seven-tower scheme will deliver more than 1200 homes, but it’s not been an easy road for the WA-based developer...

The Urban Developer

@aj
Above ground parking!?!? What is this; America? The 1980s?

Im going to give them the benefit of the doubt and assume its because of water table issues.

I wonder if this and car yard devs will stimulate a road diet for church st (narrator: it won't)

@jedsetter I suspect it's a mix of high water table, combined with relatively poor access to the nearest train stations.

And if it were up to me, then the Parra light rail would be extended south along Church Street to Parramatta Rd, then east along the *entire* length of Parramatta Rd.

As in, all the way to George St in the Sydney CBD. But that's another story.

A couple of years ago, Transport for NSW went the opposite direction and added *more* lanes to the Church St/Parkes St/Gt Western Hey intersection: https://www.transport.nsw.gov.au/projects/current-projects/church-and-parkes-streets-parramatta

The saving grace is that at least some Parra City Councillors have noticed the southern end of Church St is a bit of a dead zone. (Gee, I wonder why.)

They floated trying to set up a Burwood-style Chinatown precinct at one point: https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/this-sydney-council-wants-to-create-a-new-chinatown-it-s-not-where-you-expect-20250812-p5mmbq.html

@aj massive tangent

Holroyd -- once home to a network of hockey fields, whereto my various hockey teams would drive over the years, from sydney's northern suburbs, to participate in various hockey round-robin comps, & other times just our routine saturday comp matches. kinda sorta suspect prolly none of that has survived, across the intervening several decades

@aj
How will folk get out in an emergency?

@aj Yeah, that sounds like bad connections to PT. It might have enough within itself that bad access to retail isn't a killer, but it really wants more pleasant access to all the surrounding train stations.

Like at least a nice pedestrian/cycle bridge over Woodville Rd to Railway Pde and the later upgraded with a protected bike lane to Granville. That would be minimally disruptive and make this a nice development.

@aj if they were smart, they would provide a good connection to the M4 bike path. Then the connection to Harris Park would be pretty OK. I hope someone tests the air quality right there and sues the NSW govt.