2001: Meriton Apartments failed attempt to redraw the boundaries of Moore Park

Moore Park is not just a park. It even has its own suburb and postcode (2021). Moore Park also includes the former Sydney Showgrounds Site/Entertainment Quarter, Sydney Cricket Ground and the Sydney Football Stadium.

In 2001, Meriton Apartments was in the early stages of its redevelopment of the ACI Factory Site at Waterloo and asked South Sydney Council to alter the boundary of Moore Park to include the development. South Sydney council refused.

Source: Skelsey, M. 2001. "Estate meets its Waterloo". The Daily Telegraph, March 14: 26.

1965: Flats could save Sydney's dying uptown (Article)

Sydney's southern CBD has proven to be popular in the past two decades for those who want to live in the heart of Australia's largest city and there are hundreds if not thousands of more apartments on the way.

One article that may be of interest is from 1965 when The Daily Telegraph tried to ask the question of whether or not unit development might revive the southern part of the city but also help bring activity to the financial heart of the city.

At that time, it was deemed unsafe for women to walk those streets at night and the buildings were "bad". It also mentioned the large landholdings that the State and Federal Governments had, which might be used to revitalise the area.

During the mid-1960s there were a number of unit projects that sought to begin the process like the Park Regis Towers, but it was not until the 1980s and 1990's that a major attempt took place to encourage apartment living in the city.

And we move forward to the present, and it seems like everyone wants to live downtown. Many want to escape the long commutes from the suburbs, be in easy reach of the city's attractions, services and be close to work.

 

Source: Anonymous. 1965. "Flats could save Sydney's dying uptown". The Daily Telegraph, April 2: 26-27. 

As for the future, the only way is up and possible developments like this one I found on the Skyscrapercity forums this week could be the benchmark in bringing the area to life.

1989: A Hole lot of work

An interesting report from The Daily Telegraph in 1989, where it looks at the early stages of the construction of the failed World Square project in central Sydney. Demolition work had begun on the former site of the Anthony Horderns department store three years earlier in 1986. Now the entire site was a hole in the ground. A year later, disputes led to the collapse of the project. By then the basement levels were under construction and a lift core for one of the four proposed towers was well above ground. It was not until the late 1990's that work would resume on the site (well part of it at least) with the construction of the first tower known as Hordern Towers, a hotel and residential apartment tower at the corner of Liverpool and Pitt Street. 

Construction work on the four towers and shared retail podium was estimated to cost about $1.5 billion. Completion was set for 1992, a quite ambitious goal given the scale of the project. 

Source: Deegan, L. 1989. "A hole lot of work: City digs deep for a $1.5 billion job," The Daily Telegraph, March 8:17. 

1971: The struggle to provide hotel rooms

According to an article in The Sunday Telegraph in March 1971, Sydney had only three hotels that were international standard:

• Wentworth Hotel (Softiel Wentworth today)
• Menzies Hotel 
• Chevron-Hilton (Kings Cross)

The Wentworth and Menzies Hotels still trade decades later.

Source: McGlynn, Kerry. 1971. "There's no room at the Inn." The Sunday Telegraph, March 7:  9. 

The concern was that Sydney was not responding to the need to build more hotel rooms as tourists flocked to Sydney. Only the Lanray Centre (Hilton Hotel) was under construction. It was like that over the past few years until recently but James Packer's Crown Resort will hopefully be one step in the right direction along with the new hotel slated for Darling Harbour. Boutique hotels were virtually unheard of then and only now, we're embracing them like the hotel proposed by Greenland for the former Water Board building in Pitt Street.

Catering to tourists has always been a challenge for Sydney. We have taken some steps lately, but it will always be there.

But why this situation? The cost of building in Sydney. One gets a better return with either an office tower (like in the 1970s and today) or in more recent decades, apartment towers. 

In the 1990s there was a boom in hotel rooms in central Sydney to cater to visitors for the 2000 Olympic Games. After the games, there was a massive oversupply in the market. Tourist numbers fell following the September 11 terror attacks in the United States. Add a booming residential market and there was a problem. Kings Cross was the traditional centre for hotels but now the city centre had what the visitors wanted and operators decided apartment conversion was the go.

The former Gazebo Hotel at Kings Cross may have the same exterior but its use has changed from hotel to residential following the 2000 Olympic Games.
Photo taken by the author. 

The price of the land had risen. Several years later, Sydney was paying the price for their loss and now we are merely catching up.

If we cannot provide the rooms, the tourists will not come. James Packer knows this and that's why he wants to spend $1.5 billion to get his casino resort at Barangaroo.