Construction of the much-anticipated Parq on Flinders development is expected to begin before the end of 2017.
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Late last year, the proposal for 221 apartments and a number of commercial sites was approved on the triangular site between Keira, Flinders and Campbell streets, Wollongong.
An $88 million complex, Parq on Flinders will have four separate residential towers of seven and eight storeys.
Apartments will be built around an internal, landscaped courtyard the size of two residential blocks.
On Saturday, Colliers International Wollongong hosted an event for those who have made a purchase in the development to seek more information, as well as enabling them to meet their future neighbours.
The event took place at the Parq Display Suite on Smith Street, Wollongong.
Colliers are the managing agents for the development, assisting developers BRDB.
Colliers’ senior executive of residential Neil Webster said as of Saturday they had sold 105 apartments in the complex. Mr Webster said they were aiming for November this year for the start of construction, with an estimated completion by October/November 2019.
“For a base one-bedroom apartment you’re probably looking at about $450,000; two-bedrooms from the early $600,000 (mark) and three-bedrooms from the late $700,000’s,” he said of the development.
For years, the huge development site was arguably Wollongong’s most controversial block of land.
It was once flagged for the corruption-laden ‘Quattro’ development.
Wollongong City Council bought the site for $5.2 million in 2011, with plans to clean it up and use it as a temporary parking space.
It then called for expressions of interest from developers, and a year later the Gateway consortium lodged an ambitious $135 million proposal named ‘Bass and Flinders Gateway’. Developers failed to convince the JRPP of its merits in 2014.
Mr Webster said one of the aspects that differentiated this project from previous attempts to redevelop the site was “the real sense of community with the way the building’s been designed”.
He said this included the central park area, only accessible by residents, “that means the people who are living in the complex have access to a park area where they feel safe and secure, and get to know their neighbours in a nice environment”.
Prospective buyer Wendy Giles from Figtree said her friend had already purchased in the complex.
Mrs Giles, who said she was approaching retirement, had “always liked this location… (This complex) just looks so great and modern”.
