The Downtown Motel and a bar on lower Crown Street could be demolished to make way for a nine-storey office block.
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A development application for 72-76 Crown Street has been lodged with Wollongong City Council.
The application states the plan is to demolish the motel and the Ron De Vu bar in front of it.
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The area in question also includes a heritage building that houses Cunningham MP Sharon Bird's office and Elders Insurance.
That building's Crown Street and Moore Lane facades will be retained with the remainder of it being reconstructed within its existing footprint.
"The reconstructed heritage building will be positioned within a large void of the new building, with connection provided by a lightweight glass structure, to ensure that the heritage listed building will be a focal point of both the proposed development and the East Crown Street precinct," the application stated.
The developer, going by the name of Shelljames, states the development will cost in the vicinity of $57 million - which means it will go to the Southern Regional Planning Panel for consideration rather than council.
It will have to overcome problems with its height - the proposed building has a maximum height of 39.95 metres but the Wollongong Local Environment Plan has a 32-metre height limit at this location.
In filing a request to vary the height limit the developer suggested that the inclusion of the heritage building forced "the transfer of building mass to the upper levels of the buildings".
The ground floor of the building will include two retail tenancy spaces, with office floor space over the remaining eight levels.
There will also be four levels of underground car parking - fitting 175 vehicles - with the entry on Moore Lane and the exit on Crown Street.
A traffic report submitted as part of the proposal calculated the nine-storey block would bring an extra 155 vehicles movements to lower Crown Street in the morning peak and 113 in the evening peak.
The study found this equated to approximately 2.5 trips every minute entering or leaving the site in the morning peak and two trips a minute during the evening peak.
The development application is on exhibition until November 9.
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