But it's not the tallest one of the three.

The $400 million WIN Grand development includes three apartment towers along Burelli Street at the southern edge of the city block.

The largest of the three is the 117.8-metre, 38-storey tower on the corner of Atchison and Burelli streets - that one conforms to the height restrictions in the Wollongong Local Environment Plan.

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It's actually the third tower - the closest to Keira Street and measuring 63.15 metres - that is too tall, according to Wollongong City Council rules.

By the way, tower two at 56.5 metres, is fine too.

The reason for the tower three problems is that the height limits are not the same across the whole block.

There are in fact three different limits - 48, 60 and 120 metres moving east to west.

Tower three sits in between the first two zones - which means the part of the structure in the 60-metre zone is fine but the part in the 48-metre zone is actually 14.5 metres - or four storeys - too tall.

On behalf of WIN boss Bruce Gordon's company Birketu, urban planners Urbis have lodged a request to allow the height variation of the tower.

"At most parts of the site, the buildings are significantly under the allowable height limit," the request documentation said.

"For example, towers one and two could have both been positioned within the 120-metre building zone and built to this height, however this was deemed inappropriate.

"Primarily, the reason this was not explored was because the massing strategy sought to pull towers to the southern portion of the site, away from the sensitive heritage character of Crown Street.

"This strategy also had the benefit of creating a high amenity public through-site link and reducing the visual impact of the tower forms from key public locations."

The application also noted that placing taller buildings in the centre of the block would limit apartments' access to the sun and result in more south facing apartments, and the height difference has a minimal overshadowing effect.

"The proposal will not have an unreasonable shadow impact on the public domain," the request stated.

"Besides shadowing, the height arrangement will provide a better urban design and visual impact outcomes."

The variation request and the development application for WIN Grand are on public exhibition until October 1.

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