Wollongong could have three new hotels by the end of this year, with more than $120 million worth of high-rise projects in the works.
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If they all go ahead, they will be the first hotels to be built in the city in almost a decade and will add 450 extra accommodation rooms.
Last month, the state's Southern Regional Planning Panel approved a $41 million hotel plan for the corner of Gladstone Avenue and Crown Street, which was lodged with Wollongong City Council in mid-2020.
Then, developers said their 20-storey, five-star hotel plan would help revitalise the run-down western edge of the city, and argued it should be able to slightly exceed the height limit for the site to allow for "design excellence".
After a meeting held on December 15, the planning panel members - which included Wollongong councillor David Brown - unanimously agreed the 120-room hotel should be allowed to go ahead, saying it had architectural merit and mostly complied with council rules.
In more news for the tourism sector, construction has begun on a $43.7 million hotel in Young Street, at the edge of the CBD, with signs around the site - which also faces Belmore Street - proclaiming that it will be called Wonder.
The images used on the Wonder promotional site are branded with Ozo Hotels markings, indicating that the Thai based Onyx Hospitality Group may be operating the Wollongong hotel under its "midscale" brand.
According to the approved plans, the upper nine levels of the 60-metre building will have 46 residential apartments, as well as a communal rooftop area, and there will be three food and drink premises and a restaurant at street level.
The location of the third hotel in development, which is still in the early planning stages, was revealed to be at the corner of Corrimal and Burelli Streets earlier this month.
Plans for the $41.5 million development were officially lodged with Wollongong council on December 21 and should soon be on public exhibition.
Developers say this hotel will have 241 rooms, and would help to meet the growing demand for accommodation in the city for tourism, major events and leisure.
In 2019, tourism boss Mark Sleigh, of Destination Wollongong, said the CBD could easily support another two major hotels, especially as the UCI World Road Cycling Championships hit town in 2022.
Then, thousands of cyclists, media and spectators are expected to converge on the city and surrounds, and the city is working on an accommodation plan in an effort to ensure there are enough beds.
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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.
