The streetscape of Wollongong’s historic Market Square precinct is set to change dramatically, with two new towers now planned or under development in the harbour-side area.
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Plans to knock down four cottages between 17-23 Harbour Street and build a nine-storey, 33-apartment block have recently been lodged with Wollongong City Council.
The proposed building would be next door to another nine-storey block on the eastern side of the street, which was approved last year and is under construction.
According to documents submitted by ADM Architects, the proposed block would have a mix of one, two and three bedroom flats.
The building would have a level of basement parking and a ground floor car park, with space for 38 residential and seven visitors’ cars.
It would be 150 metres to the beach, and would front Harbour and Market Streets, next to St Mary Star of the Sea College and diagonally opposite Market Square park.
The applicants have prepared a heritage impact statement for the planned development, as the building site is within the “special area” of Market Square.
It is also close to nine items of heritage significance including the St Francis Xavier Cathedral, the St Mary’s convent, a number of historic houses, the Lang Park picnic shelters and the Norfolk Island Pines along Marine Drive.
The heritage review, by Heritage 21, notes the “proposed development would be of a larger scale compared to that currently existing on the subject site” and would partially overshadow the cathedral car park and facade.
However, it also notes the building would comply with the site’s height limit (of 32 metres) and be of a comparable scale to other surrounding buildings.
Additionally, the building includes various features that “sympathetically respond to the existing scale along the western side of Harbour Street”. Overall, the building would “have a neutral impact on the significance of the heritage items located in the vicinity”, the consultants said.
[The development] will provide for residential living opportunities in a high density residential setting,” the application said.
“The development will contribute to the availability of housing choice for the Wollongong community in a location which is accessible to public transport and other facilities due to its proximity to the Wollongong CBD and foreshore precincts.”