Lesli Berger’s Speech at The Official Opening of The Anchorage

Welcome everyone to this milestone day in the 40-year history of Fivex, the opening of The Anchorage, our first mixed use residential development. I’d like to acknowledge the Cadigal people of the Eora Nation.

We are immensely pleased to welcome Rob Stokes MP, the NSW Minister for Planning, and a strong supporter of sustainable planning for the future of cities such as Sydney.

Also, welcome to our partners in The Anchorage’s development, architects Eeles Trelease, builders Zadro Constructions, and underground carstacking specialists Hercules Carparking, friends of Fivex, ladies and gentlemen.

Wellington Webb, the first African American Mayor of Denver, said the 19 ^th century was a century of empires, the 20 ^th was a century of nation states, and the 21 ^st will be a century of cities.

Living in Sydney, one of the world’s great 21 ^st century cities, we’re living in times of great change.

Change driven by desire to end the urban sprawl, and instead build liveable communities. Change where the home office rivals the ever-increasing long commute. Change that forces us to move on from 20 ^th century development practices and take a fresh look at the older, inner, original village suburbs.

To remain a great city, we believe Sydney has to embrace the principles of the New Urbanism movement, and its promotion of walkable neighbourhoods, along with the Future Cities Collaborative, and its advocacy for building sustainable communities.

My personal participation in the Future Cities Collaborative as part of the Woollahra Council delegation has helped me inform much of Fivex’s current thinking. Minister, if I could wave a magic wand, I would make it compulsory for all Councils to participate in the Future Cities Program.

We believe The Anchorage will contribute to making Woolloomooloo, already one of the most diverse suburbs in Sydney’s east, a more liveable, walkable and sustainable community.

Fivex was established more than 40 years ago by my father Joshua Berger and my late grandfather Marko Berger. Our history is in acquiring, developing and managing commercial properties in NSW and Victoria.

Recently we expanded into residential development with The Anchorage our first mixed use residential development.

Our move has been prompted by strategic considerations: our belief that long term demand for office accommodation will not substantially increase whereas the chronic under-supply of residential accommodation in the Sydney basin is still unresolved.

We branched out into high-end high-quality residential development so we’ll have the skills and flexibility to enable the long term conversion of our commercial assets to residential uses as market forces change.

As our new Prime Minister says, we need to ensure we focus on “Innovation” and maintain “Agility”.

The Anchorage will be followed by residential mixed use developments in Double Bay, Newtown and in due course Surry Hills.

The Anchorage has an amazing location, on the edge of Sydney Harbour at Woolloomooloo – an unusual trapezoidal block with three street frontages of just 500 square metres.

It’s an easy walk to the CBD and nearby communities.

It’s an example of making existing inner suburbs more densely-populated while promoting compact, walkable, mixed-use communities.

The Anchorage is a five-storey building offering 1300 square metres of residential living space – through studio living, one and two bedroom apartments and a penthouse – and 250 square metres of commercial space.

Our architects have designed a unique looking development, with interesting geometric shapes, that helps activate the Cowper Wharf Road street frontage and adds to the local area’s vitality.

Its unique design features make the apartments look and feel much bigger than they actually are.

Eeles Trelease pushed the boundaries with space-saving designs that you can see today including:

While the ability to walk in the New Urbanism movement is most important, cars are not excluded, and The Anchorage has incorporated world class parking technology into its design and construction.

We’ve included the Hercules Carparking underground auto-valet car-stacking system to fit more than 20 car spaces in an underground box, almost 19 metres long, 9 metres wide and 6.5 metres wide.

Fivex bought 65 Cowper Wharf Road in 2008, just before the GFC hit.

The approval process has been challenging. Residential development is even more regulated than the commercial office development sector.

We were limited in terms of minimum apartment sizes, minimum balcony requirements and even the mix of apartments we were allowed to develop.

The site’s proximity to the Harbour meant excavating was a complex exercise and we used Menard Bachy, who have a lot of experience in safely excavating in such situations to ensure we had no issues.

To our architects Eeles Trelease, our builders Zadro Constructions, and our carstacking technology partner Hercules Carparking, thank you for together creating such a unique development.

We believe The Anchorage will be a great example of sustainable living for Sydney and one that is consistent with the State Government’s policy to liven up Sydney and ensure it truly remains a great city of the 21 ^st century.

And now I’m delighted to welcome the Minister for Planning, Rob Stokes, to say a few words and to officially open “The Anchorage”.

Lesli Berger, 9 October 2015