‘Community Living’ Development Coming To 1910-Built Ultimo Warehouse

A ‘community living’ development reutilising the Grace Brothers warehouse is coming to Ultimo.

Situated at 1-3 Smail Street, apt.Broadway will provide 167 rental rooms, which unlike typical units will share facilities. The concept will be familiar to anyone who has stayed in a hostel whilst travelling. Communal spaces will also feature.

Four of the rooms are to be set aside for artists and performers on low incomes. Workers in creative and cultural fields will also be prioritised as applicants for the market-rate units.

A development application for the project was approved in April last year, and Lord Mayor Clover Moore presided over its launch recently on 31 March.

Lord Mayor on board

Commenting to the City Hub, Moore expressed confidence that “this adaptive reuse will result in a good balance between the building’s historic character and contemporary living, and that it will deliver much-needed rental housing we can all be proud of.”

“Co-living, or community living, is an increasingly popular way of meeting Sydney’s affordable housing crisis because it gives people another rental option. It supports residents by providing connection, care, and a sense of belonging – sometimes when they need it most.”

“Apt.Broadway will be the largest co-living development in the City, with over 160 people living in this architecturally designed block.”

Moore touted its “unbeatable” location. “Ultimo is one of Sydney’s most connected and dynamic neighbourhoods. It’s within easy walking distance to universities, TAFE, and many colleges, close to shops, culture, restaurants and bars, public transport, Australia’s biggest jobs market in the CBD and Tech Central — Australia’s biggest and most significant innovation district supporting industries and jobs of the future.”

“Imagine what it could be like with light rail extending along Parramatta Road.” The development is a stone’s throw from where the thoroughfare and City Road merge into Broadway.

Density-increasing developments must be executed well, the Lord Mayor said, alongside adequate public spaces and infrastructure, in consultation with the local community.

“As this development is reusing an historic wool shed and a former Grace Brothers warehouse, it demonstrates how heritage can be preserved and re-purposed, while addressing Sydney’s housing needs. And it will deliver homes with character, and greatly reduce the environmental impact of construction.”

As for the prioritisation of creative workers, Moore has “long argued that culture and art must be embedded into urban planning and major developments, so that as our city evolves and grows, our creative and cultural infrastructure grows with it.”

Affordability essential, says local organisation

Community group the Friends of Ultimo are supportive in principle. “Warehouses and woolsheds are symbolic of the industrial past of Ultimo and must be preserved,” said founders Patricia Johnson and Jean-Pierre Alexandre.

“The Friends of Ultimo supports their conversion into apartments, and supports the development of build-to-rent apartments in our inner city suburb.”

However, they were concerned that there has been no indication of the units’ actual affordability.

“They are needed to house essential workers who currently cannot afford to live where they work and face long journeys, and ever increasing costs of transport.”

MP credits developer commitment to rent control

Greens Balmain MLA Kobi Shetty held a similar line. “There are good opportunities to build more density around Broadway and Ultimo.”

“In direct response to the Greens’ work on the City of Sydney Council to require more affordable, rent-controlled housing, this project proposes to deliver 15 permanent, genuinely affordable homes for very low-, low-, and moderate-income earners.”

“Build-to-rent developments don’t typically deliver affordable, rent-controlled housing, so it’s encouraging to see a developer meet the stronger standards the Greens have been pushing for, even before the new policy is finalised.” 

“Co-living won’t suit everyone, but we know there’s real demand for it, particularly for people looking for more affordable options and a sense of community in the inner city.”