Darling Square first stage sellout by Lend Lease

Lend Lease secured the off the plan sellout of all 357 Sydney apartments in the first stage of its Darling Square residences, totalling at least $500 million, with revenue estimates as high as $650 million.

Set on the doorstep of Darling Harbour, Haymarket, Chinatown and Ultimo, the entire Darling Square project will comprise 1,400 apartments, 20,000 square metres of campus-style offices and retail around a new town square. There will be an estimated 3,200 new residents, plus 1,000 students in student accommodation and 2,000 workers in the mixed-use precinct which will be part of the Darling Quarter redevelopment by Lend Lease on the edge of Darling Harbour.

Marketed as "Sydney's newest Darling," prices ranged from $700,000 for a 50-square-metre, one-bedroom ­apartment to $3.5 million for a 130-square-metre sky home through CBRE in Darling Square which will have apartments on which SJB and DCM have collaborated.

About 25% of apartments were sold to offshore ­buyers.

The proximity to UTS encouraged purchasing by Chinese families.

Construction of the 40-storey apartment block and seven-storey block will be completed in 2017.

It is among the three towers to be built on the site of the Sydney Entertainment Centre and car park at Haymarket.

The entire precinct is due for completion in 2020. 

The Lend Lease executive project director, Rob Deck reported more than 5,000 inquiries before Saturday's public launch.

Last August, Lend Lease secured the same day sellout of the first stage of Barangaroo - 159 apartments - which secured some $300 million worth of sales.

Meanwhile Grocon and Markham Corporation have approval for their $700 million redevelopment of the Imax theatre in Darling Harbour, Sydney, into the proposed office/retail and entertainment complex, The Ribbon. It will involve the demolition of the Imax tower replaced by a 20-storey building.