Fivex's $577m Chatswood tower hits 51 submissions in state assessment

Fivex is seeking state approval for a 61-storey tower at 815 Pacific Highway, Chatswood, with The Urban Developer valuing the scheme at $577 million as the state significant development application, SSD-87033962, moves into the response-to-submissions stage of its NSW assessment. The application has drawn 51 submissions, the NSW planning portal’s own project page shows.

Outlets covering the proposal, including The Urban Developer and apartments.com.au, describe a 490-apartment tower with 76 affordable units to be managed by Evolve Housing for at least 15 years. The planning portal’s own record for SSD-87033962 lists a larger scheme: 506 apartments, including 100 affordable units, and up to 8 basement levels. The portal does not explain the gap between its own figures and the count outlets have reported, and neither figure has been withdrawn or corrected on the record sighted for this story.

Why it matters

The Chatswood proposal is a seven-storey increase on an earlier design the NSW Housing Delivery Authority had endorsed, The Urban Developer reported, after Fivex withdrew a prior 2025 application for a 54-storey build-to-rent tower on the same site. The current scheme seeks more height than the design the Housing Delivery Authority first endorsed, through the state significant development pathway.

Fivex, a commercial property group founded by Joshua and Marko Berger, took the Chatswood design through two rounds of review by the NSW State Design Review Panel before lodging, apartments.com.au reported. The current design is credited to architecture firm fjcstudio.

For other owners in the Willoughby local government area watching the Chatswood skyline, the submissions response, 51 so far and including objections from neighbouring residents, shows the project is drawing scrutiny before it reaches a state determination. It is one of several towers now moving through assessment along the Pacific Highway corridor, including a 56-storey, 344-dwelling scheme at 845 Pacific Highway. The portal record also lists commercial and retail uses within the tower’s podium alongside the residential component.

The numbers

The Urban Developer is the only source sighted for this story that states a dollar figure, putting the scheme at $577 million. Neither the planning portal record nor apartments.com.au states a project cost. On apartment count, apartments.com.au and The Urban Developer both report 490 apartments, with apartments.com.au adding that 76 of those are affordable housing to be run by Evolve Housing for a minimum of 15 years. The planning portal’s own project page instead lists 506 apartments and 100 affordable units, along with up to 8 basement levels not mentioned in the outlet coverage reviewed. Fivex separately has a 39-storey, 184-apartment tower proposed at 275 Alfred Street, North Sydney, lodged in December through the same state pathway, apartments.com.au reported.

What’s next

The Chatswood application remains in the response-to-submissions stage, with no determination date disclosed on the portal record. The 51 lodged submissions will need to be worked through before the proposal can advance to assessment; as a state significant development, the consent authority is the state, not Willoughby council. Neither the portal nor the outlets reviewed for this story state when a determination is expected, or whether Fivex has responded publicly to the gap between the reported apartment count and the figures on the application record.