More than $50 million worth of apartments in the proposed Dairy Farmers Towers sold at a VIP launch on Thursday night.
Thirdi Group submitted its development application earlier this month for a project that will split 184 residential apartments between two high-rise towers in Wickham.
An adjoining five-storey building, maintaining the heritage-listed elements of the former Dairy Farmers building, will cater for retail and commercial.
Thirdi director Luke Berry said 56 one, two and three-bedroom apartments had been sold via expressions of interest.
Prices ranged from $561,000 for a one-bedroom apartment to $2.35 million for a three-bedroom apartment.
Apartments with views of Stockton and the north-east of the harbour gathered the most interest.
Mr Berry also said the development's collaborative workspace, which will give residents a space to 'work from home', had been well-received by buyers.
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"It's a great indication for us and the market and the project," Mr Berry said.
"About 70 per cent of the buyers were local which is a really interesting number - I think around 60 per cent of those are looking at living in it as a downsizer or first home.
"What's exciting is we haven't even engaged with our investor market yet for people that want to buy an investment from outside of Sydney."
The project comes amid a flurry of development in the Wickham area.
Doma Group has planned another pair of 100-metre tall skyscrapers for the Store site in Newcastle West and several other large-scale apartment buildings have already been completed.
Having undertaken a number of pre-development application meetings, Thirdi is hopeful of beginning construction on Dairy Farmers Towers next year.
"We believe the pathway to approval should be fairly straightforward because council are supportive of the scheme," Mr Berry said.
"We'd like to think we can achieve DA approval by mid next year and then we'd start construction straight away."
The development will launch to the general public on December 4, however, Mr Berry said sales could still be made in the meantime.
