Sydney developer Starryland has returned to the apartment market with its second project nearly five years after its popular Parramatta development Promenade sold with resounding success. The group has completed the acquisition of the 5150-square-metre site at 26-44 Good Street and 59-61 Cowper Street in Granville just south of Parramatta for $36 million and has also finished a planning proposal for the site.

The company bought the site – an amalgamation of commercial sites – from private owners in an off-market transaction. As one of the earliest developers to capitalise heavily on the early onset of the housing boom and surge of foreign investors, Starryland recorded sell-out days at its $550 million 773-unit Promenade project in 2014. Its second project in Granville will however be smaller with 374 units, featuring standard one to three-bedroom apartments.

Starryland’s decision to choose Granville as its second development site was based on the suburb’s inclusion in the Parramatta 2036 plan as a business extension of and housing support for the growing Parramatta CBD – Sydney’s second – and its reputation as being one of the most “undervalued” and underdeveloped train-supported suburbs in Sydney.Granville has one of the most affordable house prices in Sydney and is also the reason why it has been target of other developers including Shokai Ausbao and Develotek which are also building 680 “affordable” apartments around the corner from Starryland’s new site.

Starryland managing director Hao Liu said while there was growing developer competition in the suburb, the presence of multiple projects puts Granville on the housing map and paves the way for better sales.”The project will focus on providing quality affordable priced apartments targeting first home buyers and young professionals,” Mr Liu said. “We don’t want to compete in apartment-heavy suburbs with expensive units which is why we believe in the areas in Sydney’s west which need more homes.”

Starryland says it expects the Sydney residential downturn to be near the bottom and is planning to launch the project in late 2020, at a time when a shortage of homes is predicted to hit the city. The developer’s new project will include ground level shops, cafes and restaurants as well as a communal room and gardens with barbecue facilities. PBD Architects, which won the project’s Design Excellence Competition late last year, are the project’s appointed architects.

The group plans to lodge a development application for the project later this year. It is expected to span several buildings between four to 25 storeys tall but fewer than its 11-tower mini-city Promenade, three kilometres away.