Lord Mayor turns first sod at Infinity, Crown Group's Green Square tower

The first sod was turned by City of Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore and Crown Group CEO Iwan Sunito in the construction of a $575-million tower project named Infinity in Sydney's Green Square on Thursday.

The 20-storey design was named winner of the 2014 Urban Development Institute of Australia (UDIA) NSW Concept Design award. 

The tower on the corner of Bourke and Botany Roads, part of the council's $8-billion Green Square redevelopment precinct, will have direct underground access to Green Square train station.

Designed by Koichi Takada Architects, the mixed-use project features a 1180-sqm open-air plaza with gardens and surrounded by retail outlets, restaurants and cafés.

Crown Group Holdings was co-founded by architect Iwan Sunito and engineer Paul Sathio in 1996. 

Sunito was also named Urban Taskforce Australia’s 2015 Property Person of the Year.

"We've been inundated with buyers," Crown Group chief executive Iwan Sunito said on its sales' day last August. 

The total value of the off the plan apartments sold had reached $350 million by 3pm Saturday.

"We released 326 apartments and 105 apartments sold in the first hour. 

"It's great to see so many people proud and excited to own their own piece of Infinity by Crown Group." 

Some 60 percent of the buyers were investors and the rest owner-occupiers, the Australian Financial Review noted, with exchange e-contracts on an iPad for one-bedroom units to penthouses priced from $650,000 to $3.5 million. 

Lord Mayor Clover Moore said Infinity by Crown Group was emblematic of what the city hoped to achieve at Green Square, one of the most significant urban renewal projects in Australia. 
 
“When completed, Infinity will be home to hundreds of new residents, its eateries and retail outlets will facilitate new jobs, while a new conference facility in the building will attract new events to Green Square," he said. 
 
“Throughout history, cities have attracted the best and the brightest and in an era with increasing competition between cities in our region, developments like Infinity and the Green Square renewal will make sure Sydney continues to do just that.”
 
Sunito said he envisaged Infinity would become a residential and retail hub. “Infinity by Crown Group will set a new benchmark in city living and architecture,” he added.

“Infinity by Crown Group has been an exceptional project from the start – from the first stages of development and design selection through to the most successful sales launch in Crown Group’s history.”

The City of Sydney has committed $540 million over the next 10 years to build facilities and infrastructure in Green Square including a library, a civic plaza, a new park and playing fields, an aquatic leisure centre and a new childcare centre; part of an $8-billion redevelopment of the 278-hectare Green Square precinct.
 
Green Square is forecast to have a population of 61 000 people by 2030 and provide 21,000 new permanent jobs by 2030.