Green Light for $850m Glebe Waterfront Project as City Planners Approve Landmark Development

A major new waterfront development just metres from the CBD has received final planning approval, with the City of Sydney rubber-stamping the $850 million scheme set to transform the eastern edge of Glebe. The project, led by developer Mirvac in partnership with the NSW Land and Housing Corporation, will see a series of stepped residential towers and public spaces rise along Bridge Road, adjacent to the redeveloping Sydney Fish Market precinct.

Why This Matters: Demand, Rents and Supply

The green light comes against a backdrop of relentless demand for centrally located housing, with soaring rents and shrinking inner-city supply dominating the Sydney headlines. Blackwattle Bay’s transformation has been a long time coming, with the first proposals tabled more than five years ago. The new project will deliver 1,150 apartments—almost 350 of them earmarked as affordable housing—alongside a waterfront dining promenade and pocket parks. The news is likely to be keenly watched by renters and homebuyers squeezed by median Sydney prices currently hovering around $1.41 million, as tracked by CoreLogic in June 2026.

The site’s proximity to Broadway Shopping Centre, the University of Sydney and the planned Pyrmont Metro Station positions it at the centre of a rapidly intensifying corridor. Council planners identified the parcel, formerly occupied by industrial sheds backing onto Wentworth Park, as a critical link between Barangaroo and Glebe. "This is a chance to stitch together missing green space and bring the community to the harbour’s edge," a City of Sydney planning officer told The Daily Sydney, referencing a strategy echoed in the council’s Sustainable Sydney 2050 plan.

Numbers Driving the Move

Data from SQM Research show residential vacancy rates in the Ultimo-Glebe area fell to just 1.5% in May, underscoring acute rental stress. The NSW Government’s 2024 Urban Homes Action Plan identified Blackwattle Bay as a fast-track growth precinct critical to delivering its 75,000 new-home target by 2030. Developers estimate the new precinct’s first residents could move in by late 2028, if construction meets its current timeline.

The approvals come as the adjacent $750 million Sydney Fish Market project hits its own construction milestones—drawing more buyers and investors into Glebe, where premium two-bed apartments are fetching upwards of $1.5 million. According to local agent records, turnover for new strata properties in the 2037 postcode has risen by 18% year-on-year, largely attributed to increased investor demand fuelled by population growth and the impending metro expansion.

What Comes Next: Timeline and Community Impact

Mirvac and the Land and Housing Corporation say civil works will commence on the former industrial lots in Q1 2027, with display suites tipped to open as early as next autumn. Prospective buyers should watch for pre-release registration windows towards the end of 2026. City officials have flagged ongoing design workshops for the public realm elements, with a consultative panel set to meet at the Glebe Community Centre later this year.

Market watchers advise that the project’s affordable allocation—and the planned uplift in public open space—could shape future planning rules for other city-fringe transformation zones, including adjacent Pyrmont and the Bays Precinct. Meanwhile, local residents and would-be purchasers should anticipate construction traffic and changes to pedestrian paths along Bridge Road and Wentworth Park, with full details to be published via council channels from August.