First look: Salter Brothers unveils 40-level apartment tower above Kings Cross Station

Salter Brothers has revealed detailed plans for one of the most significant redevelopments proposed in Kings Cross in decades, seeking approval to replace the longstanding Holiday Inn Potts Point with a 249-apartment mixed-use precinct directly above Kings Cross Station.

The project, dubbed One Kings Cross in the development documents, would transform the 4,443 sqm site at 203–225 Victoria Street into three new buildings, anchored by a residential tower rising to approximately 40 levels, alongside new retail spaces, public laneways, a civic plaza and a reconfigured entrance to Kings Cross Station.

The project would also substantially change the setting of the heritage-listed Kings Cross Hotel, which sits immediately south of the site at the corner of William and Victoria streets. The hotel itself is not part of the redevelopment, but its heritage significance has been a key consideration in the design of the new precinct.

The State Significant Development Application (SSDA) follows plans reported by Apartments.com.au in September 2025, when Salter Brothers outlined a preliminary vision for between 250 and 300 apartments, a new public square and a mix of commercial and residential buildings.

The newly detailed scheme has settled on 249 apartments across a residential tower and a lower-rise streetwall building, with a third building dedicated to retail and public access.

Architects Bates Smart and Neeson Murcutt Neille have developed the plans, supported by landscape architect Aspect Studios, Connecting with Country consultants Bangawarra and engineering firm Arup.

The proposal has progressed through the NSW Government's Housing Delivery Authority pathway, with Salter Brothers seeking a concurrent rezoning and development approval.

The largest component, Building A, would occupy the southern portion of the site, closest to the Kings Cross Hotel and the established cluster of residential towers around Darlinghurst Road.

It would accommodate 201 apartments, including 33 one-bedroom, 98 two-bedroom, 66 three-bedroom and five four-bedroom or penthouse residences. The remaining 48 apartments would be delivered in the lower-rise Building B, which would step down toward the adjoining Potts Point Heritage Conservation Area.

Across the development, almost half of the residences would be two-bedroom apartments, while three-bedroom homes would account for approximately 30 per cent.

The design report describes the tower as a series of stepped, curved volumes intended to reference the Art Deco apartment buildings that have long defined the residential architecture of Kings Cross.

The building would comprise rounded, stadium-shaped forms with curved bay windows, stepped masonry profiles and varying brick colours.

Bates Smart says the architectural approach responds to the area's mix of Victorian terraces, interwar apartment buildings and contemporary high-rise towers.

The design report states that the tower's massing is intended to recall Art Deco bay windows while improving apartment views and amenity, with banded brickwork and stepped masonry providing shading and insulation.

The building would also incorporate landscaped upper-level terraces, with resident facilities spread across the tower.

According to the architectural report, the development would provide approximately 1,198 sqm of residential amenity space, with communal indoor and outdoor facilities. The proposal includes 140 car parking spaces, 39 motorcycle spaces and 298 bicycle spaces.

The residential component is only one part of the redevelopment.

At street level, Salter Brothers is proposing approximately 2,127 sqm of retail space, new pedestrian connections between Victoria and Brougham streets and a public plaza that would create a new arrival point for Kings Cross Station.

The proposed Ngarguna Place would sit at the southern end of the site, creating a publicly accessible space connected to the surrounding street network and the new station entrance.

Two new pedestrian connections, Yaranabee Lane and Walanga Lane, would break up the development into separate buildings, with retail tenancies intended to activate the laneways and public spaces.

The plans also include widening Brougham Lane by approximately three metres, improving access through the precinct and creating a more direct connection between the different street levels.

The proposed public domain would cover approximately 1,321 sqm, a substantial component of the redevelopment given the site's relatively compact inner-city footprint.

One of the more complex elements involves Kings Cross Station itself.

The existing Victoria Street station entrance would be relocated, with a new public entry incorporating stairs and lifts intended to improve visibility and accessibility from Darlinghurst Road and Victoria Street.

The proposal also includes an accessible connection from Yaranabee Lane into the station concourse, new public lifts and alterations to existing retail and operational areas within the station.

These works are particularly sensitive because Kings Cross Station is recognised on the NSW State Agency Heritage and Conservation Register.

The station opened in June 1979 as part of the Eastern Suburbs Railway and retains original features including ticketing windows, terrazzo finishes and elements of its distinctive 1970s underground architecture.

A Heritage Impact Statement prepared by Urbis says the proposed works have been designed to retain significant station fabric while improving pedestrian circulation and accessibility.

The report notes that the existing hotel buildings above the station, constructed in 1985, have little heritage significance and are identified as detracting elements within the Potts Point Heritage Conservation Area.

Their removal would make way for a more coordinated redevelopment of a site that has undergone several major transformations since the nineteenth century.

The heritage assessment traces the land back to the Brougham Lodge estate, established in the 1830s by Sir James Dowling, who became Chief Justice of the NSW Supreme Court.

The estate was subsequently subdivided, with terraces developed along Victoria and Brougham streets during the nineteenth century.

By the early twentieth century, parts of the site had been adapted for commercial and hotel uses, including the Canberra Oriental Hotel.

Much of the earlier built fabric was removed during construction of Kings Cross Station in the 1960s and 1970s, before the Radisson Victoria Hotel, later the Holiday Inn, was developed during the 1980s.

The current redevelopment would represent another significant change to the site, this time shifting its primary use from visitor accommodation to residential living.

The heritage-listed Kings Cross Hotel at 248 William Street is an important part of the surrounding context.

Built around 1915, the Federation Free Classical-style hotel occupies a prominent corner at the entrance to Kings Cross and is recognised for its architectural character and historical associations with the development of the area.

Urbis notes that the proposed tower would introduce considerably greater height immediately behind the hotel, but argues that the existing concentration of high-rise buildings, including the Zenith Apartments and Elan Tower, provides an established context for the development.

The assessment concludes that the Kings Cross Hotel would retain its landmark corner presence, with Brougham Lane maintaining physical separation between the heritage building and the proposed tower.

The report also finds that the stepped arrangement of the three proposed buildings would help reduce the visual impact of the development toward the lower-rise heritage streetscapes of Potts Point.

The heritage consultant concludes that the project is unlikely to result in unacceptable impacts on the significance of Kings Cross Station, the Potts Point Heritage Conservation Area or surrounding heritage items, subject to appropriate heritage and archaeological management measures.

The project represents a significant step forward from the initial redevelopment proposal identified through the Housing Delivery Authority process in April 2025.

Salter Brothers acquired the Holiday Inn Potts Point in 2023 as part of a broader hotel portfolio transaction and has since pursued a residential-led redevelopment of the strategically located site.

The proposed transformation would deliver a new residential address above one of Sydney's established railway stations, while introducing new retail and public spaces at a prominent gateway between Kings Cross and Potts Point.

The State Significant Development Application and concurrent rezoning proposal remain subject to assessment by the NSW Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure.