New Office Building Proposed for Macquarie Park

6 April 2021

Eden Gardens in Sydney’s Macquarie Park is set to be transformed by the Ainsworth family following the lodgement of a Development Application for the site.

Eden Gardens is currently a plant nursery and dinning venue located on the edge of the Macquarie Park precinct at 307 Lane Cove Rd. The property is held by the Thunderbirds Are Go Pty Ltd Atf The Gardeners Trust, which are related entities of the Ainsworth family. The venue is currently run by Simon and Anna Ainsworth.

The site is proposed to be enhanced with the addition of a $155m 18 level office building together with significant additions and alterations to the existing garden centre and dinning venue. The application was lodged on the 30th March with Ryde City Council.

The 2.4ha island site is bordered by the M2 Motorway, Lane Cove Rd and the Lane Cover River National Park. The site is zoned B7 Business Park with an FSR of 1:1. In a planning anomaly, the site is the only B7 zoned site in the Macquarie Park precinct to not have a height control on the property. Nearby parcels of land have 30m height controls which allow for developments of approximately 9 storeys.

The plans for the development are yet to be made public but are likely to face significant opposition as a result of the proposed height of the buildings.

Our Views

Any plans to develop a building of this scale in this location are unrealistic. Whilst the property is 750m from the Macquarie Park Metro station, there are a substaintial number of office development proposals closer to the Metro station to absorb the tenant demand in the short to medium term.

Our view is that the proposal is being proposed to take advantage of the planning anomaly in order to facilitate n alternative scheme which may sit outside the current planning controls with respect to use and scale, but which may be more palatable to the community.

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