A new apartment tower is proposed for the lower end of Crown Street, with developers lodging plans to build a nine storey building in the block between Corrimal and Harbour Streets.
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According to the plan, the existing BMW showroom and a newly set-up bar at 46 Crown Street will be knocked down.
The site, which also face Queens Parade, will be excavated to make way for two levels of basement parking, and there will be eight levels of apartments, with 40 units in total.
These will mostly be three-bedroom units (24), with 10 two-bedroom and six one-bedroom units also proposed.
There will be parking space for 63 cars, and pedestrian and vehicle access for residents of the building will be via Queens Parade.
Like the building across the road, the new tower is proposed to be a "shop-top" apartment block, with one level commercial tenancies facing the street front.
Due in part to the failure of the Crown Wollongong development, and the nearby Oxford Towers, to attract enough tenants, as well as a push to stop diluting the city's struggling retail core, the council has plans to move away from its need for developers to place commercial levels on the lower floors of residential buildings.
However, for now, this is a requirement of the inner city commercial zone.
The applicants say the building "will provide additional commercial/retail floorspace to strengthen the role and function of the Wollongong City Centre, as well as much needed housing supply to meet the needs of the community".
"The proposal has been developed in relation to the desired future character of the area as set out by the 2009 Wollongong Local Environmental Plan [and] provides residential uses above commercial uses consistent with the objectives of the zoning."
The building has been designed in an L-shape, as it is next to the heritage listed Comelli Bros Building, at the corner of Crown and Corrimal streets.
It will also back on to the laneway (and drive-through bottle shop car park) which connects Corrimal Street to Queens Parade.
There are six "notable" trees, along Crown Street and in the laneway, which will be affected by the proposal, the developers say.
With an estimated cost of $14.3 million, the development will be assessed locally by Wollongong council and, if necessary, the city's independent planning panel.
Plans are on exhibition through the council until December 1.
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Kate McIlwain
For more than a decade, I've helped the Illawarra Mercury set the news agenda across the region. Currently I'm the paper's health reporter - covering the stories of Illawarra workers and residents in the wake of a global pandemic and at a time where our health systems are stretched to the limit.
For more than a decade, I've helped the Illawarra Mercury set the news agenda across the region. Currently I'm the paper's health reporter - covering the stories of Illawarra workers and residents in the wake of a global pandemic and at a time where our health systems are stretched to the limit.
