Perfectly positioned between North Sydney and Chatswood, and right next door to St Leonards hospital and business district, Crows Nest has long flown under the radar of many developers. Now, with cranes moving overhead and construction crews diverting traffic, it is evident change is afoot.
Construction for Crows Nest station is well underway with an expected completion date of 2024. The Albany, a luxury apartment and Coles development, is slated to finish in May this year, bringing more boutique shopping and dining options to Willoughby Road. There is talk of a pedestrian mall linking Crows Nest and St Leonards, which, if it goes ahead, will add to the local foodie scene.
With a lot of development in the works and more being planned, long-term locals aren’t pleased.
“Some people who have been in the area for a long time are concerned about the development, but they’re not queuing up to leave,” says Stuart Howard, sales agent with Marriott Lane Crows Nest.
“A lot of people realise, like any new development, once it’s here, it’s not as bad as people imagined it would be – it often enhances the suburb and adds to the lifestyle, but during the process, people get concerned,” he says.
Grounded by an active community, Crows Nest Village is a place where foodies line up in anticipation, bars are unaffected by Sydney’s lockout laws, and big-name brands are vying for a spot.
Willoughby Road is at the centre of Crows Nest Village, which has an impressive mix of eateries, restaurants, cafes and small bars, and a sprinkling of retail shops in-between. Around the area, enduring businesses such as Deli Noodle, Stuyvesant’s House and Xenos are still as popular as ever, and newbies such as Fratelli Fresh and Bo Thai are warmly embraced.
Locals appreciate the tight-knit village feel of the area. Photo: Nick Moir
Small business and corporate offices have a growing presence, pulling in people from other parts of Sydney, who over the years have become Crows Nest locals as much as the people who live here. Jay Lansdown, owner of the independent bookstore, Constant Reader is one of them.
“When the bookshop opened 40 years ago (although I wasn’t here then), it was a very different demographic to what it is today,” says Lansdown. “Today there are a lot of families in the area, and we have a fabulous older generation that has been here for years.”
Although the average property size in Crows Nest is only 230 square metres, Howard explains that people moving into the area want the convenience of being close to everything while still being part of a great community.
“People tend to come from either the upper north shore or have lived in the high-rise apartments in St Leonards, Chatswood and North Sydney, and are wanting to be in a low-rise dwelling, such as a cottage or a semi-detached,” says Howard.
“It’s not surprising that they want to stay in the area. In Crows Nest, you can walk everywhere, and the transport options are incredible. It has the train station down at St Leonards, buses linking to different parts of the city, and soon we’ll have the new Metro,” he says.
When Howard came to the area 25 years ago, it was the start of the resurgence of the inner-city village lifestyle. And although he notes there has been a bit of change during that time, he says, “we are going to see more change in the next 10 years than we ever have”.
article by domain.com.au