Cammeray to reclaim 2.5 hectares of green space. Have your say by September 25.Elderly residents to be evicted for $288 million Lavender Bay tower.
Xavier Terrace retirement village at Lavender Bay, with the St Francis Xavier Church spire behind it. Its 43 homes would be demolished under the $288 million plan.
By ANNA USHER
Elderly residents from a Catholic retirement village in Lavender Bay will be forced to leave their homes and make way for a luxury 20-storey tower under plans formally lodged by the church to the NSW Government this week.
The Parish of our Lady of the Way – in partnership with St Vincent de Paul Society Housing Australia – has revealed its proposal for the prime 5,990 sqm sites at 1-19 Mackenzie Street and 211 Blues Point Rd.
BEFORE: looking south from Blue Street Plaza today. Image: Urbis, from the State Significant Development application.
AFTER: the same view with the proposed tower, 15 metres from the camera. Image: Urbis, from the State Significant Development application.
The site as it stands on Mackenzie Street. Image: from the State Significant Development application.
If approved, the area surrounding historic St Francis Xavier Church will be transformed into 165 homes close to North Sydney Station and the Victoria Cross Metro.
Proposed is a three-storey podium comprising 88 market-rate and 19 affordable apartments, above two ground-floor retail tenancies at Lavender Bay.
Adaptive reuse of a heritage school building next to the church would bring the project’s affordable housing total to 77 units, including a seven-storey, 58-unit co-living extension.
The heritage school building beside the church, earmarked for adaptive reuse.
The State Significant Development (SSD) application is now on public exhibition until September 23. The $288 million development means 43 existing homes on the site – including the retirement village Xavier Terrace – will be demolished.
A five-storey basement beneath the main tower would provide 118 car spaces.
Almost half the homes on the site at 1-19 Mackenzie Street and 211 Blues Point Road would be affordable.
An engagement portal by HillPDA Consulting, commissioned by the church, says the project will redevelop the site into a “vibrant Catholic precinct” that respects its heritage and serves the community for generations.
An artist’s impression of the proposed public plaza beside the church. Image: from the State Significant Development application.
“The renewal will restore and enhance the church and historic buildings, add new parish facilities, and deliver affordable rental housing for key workers, vulnerable people and those in crisis,” the portal says.
“With improved public spaces, safer connections, and a design that complements the site’s history, this renewal will create a welcoming place of worship, support and community life in the heart of North Sydney.”
A concurrent rezoning proposal has been filed in a bid to change the land’s designation from religious use and mid-to-high density to site-wide high-density use.
A six-fold height limit increase from 12m and 8.5m to about 73m has also been proposed.
An artist’s impression of the proposed tower rising behind St Francis Xavier Church. Image: from the State Significant Development application.
An artist’s impression of the proposed Mackenzie Street frontage. Image: from the State Significant Development application.
An artist’s impression of the new stairs beside the church, looking to the Harbour Bridge. Image: from the State Significant Development application.
An artist’s impression of the harbour and city view from the proposed tower, with the church spire below. Image: from the State Significant Development application.
When will retirement village residents be forced to leave?
Mosman Collective exclusively revealed the plan in August 2025, when Father Richard Leonard SJ said residents would have to leave their homes within two years “because the 40-year-old block needs to be demolished for the new development”.
If the SSDA is approved, that window closes between February and August next year.
An Archdiocese of Sydney spokesperson told Mosman Collective in 2025 that most of the 31 Xavier Terrace units housed a single person, and that “only a minority are retirement village contracts, the rest are short-term rental agreements.”
“The Parish and St Vincent de Paul Society Housing have met with residents to express the support that will be provided to occupants to help find alternative accommodation in the years ahead and this will be done as compassionately as possible and via regular updates and meetings,” the spokesperson said.
A Social Impact Statement uploaded with the SSDA says residents will now “be managed in accordance with their legal entitlements and individual circumstances.”
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