Gladstone Avenue jinx claims another apartment block

The section between Osbourne Street and Rowland Avenue seems ideally placed as sites for apartment towers.

After, all it's a very, very short walk to Wollongong station, which would be an appeal to commuters.

Read more: Commuters can use Unanderra station lifts later this year

However, two towers proposed for that stretch have been knocked back by the Wollongong Local Planning Panel.

The first was the planned nine-storey tower at 7-15 Gladstone Avenue put forward by Kingdom Developments.

They took Wollongong City Council to the Land and Environment Court over the knockback, winning approval late last year.

But then they couldn't repay the lender, who took it over and sold the property.

Now a second nine-storey tower just south of that spot has also been refused.

The complex, on the Gladstone Avenue-Roland Avenue intersection, went before the planning panel recently.

The Design Workshop Australia project was facing numerous concerns, including not conforming to provisions of the Wollongong Development Control Plan such as the building depth exceeding 18 metres and that less than the minimum 10 per cent of units were three bedrooms or more.

Another key concern was that a section of the site being located within a high-flood risk precinct and floodway - the same issue with the Kingdom development.

The panel members unanimously rejected the application, in part because of the flooding risk.

"The panel was particularly concerned that the development is partially sited in a floodway, which will exacerbate the impacts of flooding on other properties and raises potential public safety issues," the ruling stated.

The developer has already flagged their intentions of taking the matter to the Land and Environment Court.

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