Urban Digest

A $394.2 million mixed-use precinct proposing 1,260 apartments on the northern edge of Wollongong City Centre has entered public exhibition.

The State Significant Development application covers a 3.31-hectare site at 73–77 Gipps Street and 60–74 Flinders Street, between Wollongong and North Wollongong stations. North Wollongong Station is around 800 metres’ walk from the site.

Five mixed-use buildings are proposed across the site, ranging from nine to 36 storeys, above two levels of basement parking. The precinct would include ground-floor retail, a childcare centre and new internal streets and pedestrian connections, with the buildings delivered across three stages.

Of the 1,260 apartments, 190 would be affordable housing, representing 15% of the residential component. The affordable homes would be managed by Housing Trust for 15 years.

The development proposes 134,446 sqm of gross floor area, including around 129,094 sqm of residential floor space and 5,352 sqm of non-residential uses. Plans also include more than 10,000 sqm of communal open space and extensive landscaping across the site.

A concurrent rezoning is proposed through the Housing Delivery Authority pathway to facilitate the development. The application seeks to permit residential flat buildings and commercial premises on the site, increase the maximum FSR to 4.1:1 and establish a maximum building height of 125 metres.

The exhibited proposal is smaller than the project’s earlier scoping concept, which contemplated around 1,500 dwellings and a higher development cost. The current EIS scheme reduces the dwelling count to 1,260 while retaining a substantial affordable housing component.

The project is expected to generate around 1,950 jobs during construction and 1,429 operational jobs.

Wollongong Developments No.7 Pty Ltd is the applicant, with Level 33 as developer. DKO has designed the scheme, with Sutherland & Associates Planning leading the planning application.

For more information, search SSD-100626709 on the NSW Planning Portal.