Macquarie Park Suburb Review

Sydney’s attempt at a “Silicon Valley” is clean, modern and slick - but also noisy and soulless.

Summary: Sydney’s north shore base for a lot of tech and other big-business, Macquarie Park mixes modern urban planning with a reasonably central location. It’s the focal point for many daily commuters – both workers and students alike – and has seen near-constant redevelopment over the past few years. Everything here feels very modern and well-kept, and its recent shopping and public transport additions are a plus, yet its traffic issues and lack of character make it feel a little sterile. It can be good value for apartment-dwellers, however.

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I think it must have been around 1994 when I first got my hands on the video game “SimCity 2000” as a kid. For those who don’t know, it’s a game where you assume the role of a virtual mayor and plan out cities, their infrastructure, zoning, public transport and the like while balancing the needs of the populace. I shudder to think how many hours of my life I wasted playing that game.

As the game advanced, you received newer, enhanced city elements such as cycleways, more modern glass buildings, metros and other ‘high tech’ planning options. Once you reached a certain point, it unlocked a type of building called an “Arcology” – a massive, futuristic, self-contained city-in-a-building in which people could live, work, shop, and play without having to go anywhere else.

We’re not quite there in the real world yet, but present-day Macquarie Park is the closest thing I’ve felt to walking through a SimCity town in real life. It’s very slick and modern, and everything feels shiny and new given the entire suburb has been perpetually undergoing a state of reconstruction for a few years now.

Coming from a tech-oriented background, it does feel quite cool and mildly futuristic, but it’s not hard to see how people could easily label it sterile and soulless. Many of Macquarie Park’s older red-brick apartment blocks have been bought out and demolished by developers, and replaced with sleek, black-glassed beehives.

While purchasing property here means you’re getting a pretty reasonably-priced home with all the mod-cons, how all the rapidity of the apartment construction here affects the resulting durability of some of these buildings in the long run remains to be seen.

A Work in Progress

At its core, Macquarie Park is mainly a professional, work-oriented suburb served with a side of education courtesy of its university. It serves as the second-largest business precinct in all of Sydney in terms of office space, and many big businesses and instantly-recognisable major brands call the suburb home.

As a result it’s much more commercially-oriented than many of the other suburbs outside of the Sydney CBD itself, although more and more high-density residential is being added to its streetscape all the time.

Macquarie Centre features nearly ever major big-box brand

There’s been obvious efforts made to help with the suburb’s viability as a place to live, rather than just commute. It all starts with the recent addition of the Macquarie Park and Macquarie University metro stations, which have helped fill the gaps of public transport ever since previous direct rail lines were removed.

While the metro is still undergoing its share of teething problems, its serving as a bridge both to the main heavy rail into the city and elsewhere on the North Shore has helped – particularly given the road situation surrounding Macquarie Park.

Road congestion has been and continues to be a major negative here, as the suburb sees heavy traffic in peak hours when a lot of commuters from different areas converge either to get here, or on the way to where they’re going.

While its fairly central location is convenient for other reasons, Macquarie Park remains a focal point during rush hours for both cars and trucks alike, and thus avoiding driving in, out or around the suburb is desirable.

All this traffic adds to one of Macquarie Park’s other major flaws: noise.

Its near-constant activity of construction and new buildings going up means there’s equipment being used at most hours of the day. While this may settle down in a few years, it’s a decent lifestyle factor to consider if you’re a light sleeper planning to get a decent night’s sleep while living here.

“There’s been obvious recent efforts made to help with the suburb’s viability as a place to live, rather than just commute.”

On the plus side, the modern attitudes to urban planning have made quite a few positives both to Macquarie Park’s environment and layout. It’s greener than you might think – there’s an emphasis on implementing an increased range of nice parklands which are all kept in very good condition – and the extended greenery of Lane Cove National Park is right on the suburb’s doorstep.

Likewise, Macquarie Park’s range of amenities continues to grow. Efforts are being made to make the suburb almost entirely self-sustained, so that you won’t have to go anywhere else for your daily needs. Macquarie Centre is its focal point for shopping and retail, and is very well-equipped, with all major supermarkets and department stores represented as well as a mix of other stores (including cinemas) as well.

In terms of housing, Macquarie Park is almost entirely high-density apartments. Those looking for extra space to raise the kids will be disappointed; there essentially no freestanding housing, and the lack of living space and schools makes for a suburb that’s not really suited for families.

It DOES represent quite good value for those happy with apartment living, however. Purchase prices for smaller new apartments hover around the $700,000 mark, which – given the suburb’s proximity to Chatswood, Ryde, the CBD, and even Parramatta – is pretty damn reasonable (for Sydney).

Given the prices of some of the other surrounding suburbs on the North Shore, it’s not bad, although it does speak a bit to the over-supply of apartments the suburb is quickly seeing as a whole.

The other major downside to Macquarie Park is that it lacks some kind of central meeting place or communal hub. There’s not really any kind of focal point outside of the Macquarie Uni campus (for students), and as a result it’s not surprising that residents could feel disconnected from one another when trying to set up some kind of a long-term base here.

The Verdict

Macquarie Park is still a suburb in transition, and is likely to remain so for a couple more years. It’s very sleek and efficient, and as a place to work feels quite a lot cleaner, more open, and less hectic than working in the “true” Sydney CBD , although it lacks its charming older architecture.

Likewise, for those looking to focus on studies or their career for a couple of years who want all major conveniences at their fingertips, the suburb serves its purpose quite well for a rental.

Young professionals and professional couples can take advantage of its mix of modern cafes, public spaces, and shopping and then hop on public transport to experience a bit more of “real” Sydney in short order.

The problem comes when looking at its long-term prospects and as a place to settle. There’s not really much of a precedent for a suburb like this elsewhere in the city (somewhere like Zetland is also in a similar spot although more residentially-focused), and as to whether a proper community will be established.

Even for small families who are okay with apartment life, there are better suburbs nearby that offer a bit more stability and breathing room while still retaining urban access.

We’ll likely have to re-evaluate what Macquarie Park has become sometime around 2025 to see if it remains what it’s intended to be – likely around the time SimCity 4000 is released.