However, work has begun on a development which Paul Boultwood, president of the Corrimal Region Action Group and a former Corrimal Chamber of Commerce president said was crucial to rejuvenating the town centre. 

‘The Verge’ development, located on Underwood Street in Corrimal’s growing town centre, will consist of 49 units and a ground floor retail which will include a new Aldi store.

The old building is currently being demolished, and at Friday’s sod-turning ceremony Mr Boultwood was pleased to say goodbye to the dilapidated site. 

“This site really hasn’t been used since the major floods in Corrimal in 1998,” he said. 

“People have been living in it, there’s graffiti… This is a milestone, what’s happening today, especially for the residents that live near it.

“We’re also now in deliberations with council on the re-modification of the old cokeworks site… With the Corrimal town plan we’re going to get all the new footpaths, and we’ve got the new ping pong table in Memorial Park. So Corrimal is that buzz word.”

Wollongong Lord Mayor Gordon Bradbery said the site had been a “blight on the local landscape”, but now believed Corrimal “is certainly going places”. 

“The town plan gave us an idea of the direction we want to go with Corrimal, and this is one more part of that sequence of enlivening Corrimal,” he said. 

“There has been much neglect out here, but now it’s on the way.”

Knight Frank are the project marketers for the development, and Illawarra director Matt Borg said that construction began at the start of February.

He also said they were expecting the old building to be totally demolished and flattened by the end of next week. 

Last year, Sydney developer Mintus quarantined 50 per cent of the building for first home buyers.

All quarantined apartments have since been sold.

Mintus has now extended the same conditions to the remaining 14 apartments, which start from $595,000 for a two-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment. 

First home buyers will be able to pay half the deposit (five per cent) up front, with the remainder to be paid over two further installments.

The development is due to be completed by April 2019. 

Mel Hazzouri, director of Mintus said they looked forward to, “providing our new residential purchasers with an amazing place to live, jobs for the local community through the Aldi supermarket, childcare and smaller retail shops and a modern/attractive building to complement the surrounding developments”.

READ MORE: Aldi supermarket and childcare centre slated replace Corrimal's run-down Mitre 10 site