IF PLANS championed by a range of business and political leaders gain traction, the Sydney skyline in areas currently untouched by development could be transformed into becoming an Australian equivalent of New York City.
Already dubbed “Midtown Sydney”, at the heart of the proposal is a redevelopment of the land around, and even on top of, the city’s Central station with office blocks, new apartments and “dynamic, vibrant spaces”.
But critics have said the distinctive character of Sydney’s low-rise inner suburbs could be lost and warned the Government against cosying up to “unscrupulous developers”.
Central — Australia’s busiest station with almost 200,000 passengers entering or leaving every day — already sounds like it’s in New York. It is located next to Broadway, it’s close to the new Central Park development and it’s just a short walk to the Goods Line, an old railway bed which, inspired by Manhattan’s massively popular High Line, has been given a new lease of life as a pedestrian walkway. Yet its location — at the city’s southern fringe — has left it with fewer high-rise towers than in the heart of the CBD.
Could Sydney be the new New York?Source:Supplied
MIDTOWN SYDNEY
In a forum on Monday, organised by the Committee for Sydney and Sydney Business Chamber, all the chatter was about imitating the US’ largest city.
“The stage is set to talk about a once in a lifetime opportunity to create Sydney’s answer to Manhattan’s Midtown,” said NSW Planning Minister Rob Stokes.
“Instead of [Central] being a terminus for transport and communications it needs to become an epicentre for those things.”
In the spotlight is the open air above by the busy railway tracks between Central station and the inner west. At 80 hectares in size, the site is three times that of the $6 billion Barangaroo project currently under construction on Sydney’s harbour side, and is being hungrily eyed off by developers as Sydney’s next piece of the property pie.
More than 50,000 new residents are mooted for the area. UrbanGrowth NSW — the Government arm charged with spearheading major developments — says it will “provide for the expansion of Sydney’s CBD” with “signature commercial, retail and residential buildings”.
New York’s Hudson Yards development, which sits above a working rail network and includes a 90-storey skyscraper, is the inspiration for proposals at Central.Source:Supplied
DERELICT, READY FOR TRANSFORMATION
Executive Director of the Sydney Business Chamber Patricia Forsythe told news.com.au the city had to replace commercial office space lost to hotels and for the building of the new Metro underground, while Central was ideal as a new business precinct once Barangaroo was complete.
“It’s about making use of spaces where you already have traditional patterns of commuter use and are under-utilised. Rail corridors are often associated with derelict areas that are just ready for transformation.
“We looked at the example of Hudson Yards in New York where a large rail facility has emerged as a vibrant space,” she said, referring to the massive new development in New York that will eventually see a clutch of officer towers, including a 90-storey skyscraper and 500 apartments, built on top of a train shed in the middle of Manhattan.
Ms Forsythe said the Goods Line showed Sydney was already learning from New York but there was still some way to go. Placing new buildings on decks above existing railways lines was one way to make the best use of limited space and it had the added benefit of being handy for commuters.
Melbourne’s Docklands area around Southern Cross station, with its office blocks and apartments, could be a model.
The famous entrance to New York’s Grand Central station survives to this day but most of the terminus has been built over by skyscrapers.Source:Supplied
HERITAGE
New skyscrapers needn’t mean ridding the area of its heritage, Ms Forsythe said.
“What we have seen in New York is good design, which can see tall new buildings immediately adjacent to a very historic rail station and recognise of the role and importance of that heritage.”
However, what New York’s rail commuters don’t see is a view of all the new skyscrapers from the platforms given the city’s main terminals have long since been buried underground, sacrificing sunlight so new developments can rise above.
Ms Forsythe said they were still at the stage of “talking about the big picture” rather than the implications for the station. But artists impressions show all but Central’s historic concourse submerged by tower blocks with the platforms, currently open to sunlight, in the future underground.
Greens MP for Newtown, Jenny Leong, whose electorate contains much of the area being touted as a southern CBD, said she was concerned of glib references to New York, a city that was very different to Sydney.
“What makes Manhattan work is the incredible expanse of open, green public space that is Central Park, the extensive subway systems and bus networks and the mechanisms in place to keep housing affordable — you can’t create urban density while maintaining the livability of a city without these things,” she told news.com.au.
Indicative impressions of what the new Central Station could look like show much of the station, aside its historic concourse, buried under new buildings and parks. Source: UrbanGrowth NSW.Source:Supplied
UNSCRUPULOUS DEVELOPERS
Ms Leong said the communities in the mainly low-rise historic neighbourhoods in the shadow of any new buildings were not necessarily opposed to new developments, but it had to be the right developments.
“What we’re against is the Government cosying up to unscrupulous developers who are just focused on maximising profits, at the expense of our local area.”
Ms Leong said public land by the railway tracks had already been sold off for swanky new apartments and offices but little had been done to improve infrastructure. Redfern station, Sydney’s sixth busiest and already surrounded by new developments, has one lift serving just two of its 10 platforms.
“Suburbs like Redfern have traditionally been home to working people, students and artists. “Many of them are now being pushed out by ever-increasing rents and housing costs,” she said.
“It’s essential that new developments have mandated affordable housing targets [or we will] lose the diverse communities that makes our suburbs so vibrant.”
[Source:- Newsau]
