But leading organisations, including the University of Wollongong and Business Illawarra, have welcomed the investment as potentially transformative for the city.

The billionaire media mogul's company, Birketu Pty Ltd, unveiled plans earlier this year to build WIN Grand on a 1.3 hectare city block between Crown, Atchison, Burelli and Keira streets.

The proposal includes commercial and co-working buildings, 50 new retailers, a cinema, exhibition space and a health precinct complete with a gym, lap pool, spa, sauna and steam room available to the public.

At the heart of the development are three residential towers, the tallest of which, at 39 floors, is set to become the highest building in Wollongong.

A month-long public exhibition of the plans has revealed community concerns about building height and the adequacy of car parking.

Of the 68 written submissions received, 51 objected to the development in its current form and 17 supported the proposal.

A number of residents expressed fears the project would be an over-development of the site, and put the CBD on the path to becoming "another Sydney".

"I would hate to see a 39-storey block on the main street of Wollongong," Annette Jones wrote in her submission. "We are not, and should never be, Sydney."

Kathryn Broadfoot said she could not "see the need to add massive structures like this to our people-centric city".

Sue and Neville Elliott were supportive of the development and thought it "a great thing for Wollongong". "But a 39-storey tower will just be an eyesore," they said.

Several residents of the nearby Avante building in Rawson Street objected to the height of the residential towers which they said would block their ocean views.

"All that will be seen from these important living spaces will be the development; the extent of the view loss impact can only be described as devastating," a submission from Milton and Janet O'Brien and Cristina Garcia said.

Read more: The Block city development to 'boost' Wollongong

Among supporters of the project, the University of Wollongong said WIN Grand represented "the next major step forward for Wollongong on its transformation to a contemporary and true urban city centre environment and experience".

Business Illawarra executive director Adam Zarth said it was "one of the most significant investments in the Illawarra economy ever".

"[It's] a milestone in the evolution of the Wollongong CBD and a much-needed future hub for jobs, recreation and housing," he wrote.

Age Friendly Illawarra said the plans were "activating a space in an inclusive and age-appropriate way".

RMB Lawyers managing partner Craig Osborne said it struck a "balance between development profitability and contribution to the community".

Before recently sealing a deal to sell its Wollongong Central shopping centre and associated car parks for $402 million, retail property giant The GPT Group had its say on the WIN Grand's proposed approach to car parking in the CBD.

While there are several public use elements to the WIN Grand precinct, the ambitious development project does not include provisions for public car parking.

Read more: No public parking in WIN Grand's city block plan

The WIN Grand is proposed to have 469 car parking spaces, 380 of which are reserved for residents of the complex's 402 apartments.

The remaining spots include 41 spaces for visitors to the apartments and 48 spaces for commercial use.

A transport impact assessment accompanying the development application said members of the public would be required to make use of existing car parks or on-street parking - which it says is in line with the council's own plans to reduce car commuting into the CBD.

The WIN Grand plans name Wollongong Central's southern gateway car park cornering Kembla and Burelli Streets as the "obvious convenient car park" for visitors, noting its close proximity to the site and current "moderate demand".

GPT recently sold Wollongong Central and its associated car parks to Sydney-based Haben Property Fund.

In an October 1 submission to Wollongong council, GPT said privately owned car parks should not be relied upon to provide parking for the WIN Grand complex, especially in the wake of possible future development of the Gateway carpark site.

"The proposed development should not be reliant in any way on parking continuing to be provided on the Gateway site and also the redevelopment of the Gateway site should not be restricted because of an expectation that the parking requirements of the proposed WIN development are to be met, in part, on the Gateway site," GPT said.

GPT told the ASX that it was selling out of Wollongong to focus on larger centres.

The change of ownership at Wollongong Central is understood to have taken effect on December 18.

WIN Grand project director Steve Turner says plans to erect Wollongong's tallest tower on CBD property owned by billionaire media owner Bruce Gordon fall within the building height limits set by the council.

The 39-storey apartment complex is set to reach 117.6 metres into the air - just shy of the site's 120m height limit.

The Mercury sought Mr Turner's response to concerns about the scale of the proposed building expressed in public submissions.

He said the WIN Grand plan was "within the permissible height controls of the site, as described in the Wollongong City Council planning controls".

He also noted the tower, at roughly half the floor area allowed under the same planning controls, was designed to be "as slender as possible".

Asked to address concerns raised over parking provisions, Mr Turner said the development was forecast to create peak demand for parking - about 120 cars - outside of traditional office and shopping hours.

He said traffic modelling carried out as part of the development application process indicated there was sufficient capacity in existing car parks around the site to accommodate that demand.

"We're looking to be the city's first carbon neutral precinct, which is supported by Transport for NSW and Wollongong Council," he said.

"Therefore to build additional parking facilities when there's sufficient capacity already would seem to be counter productive to achieving those environmental targets."

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