news, local-news, Wollongong

A $38 million residential tower will rise from one of the highest development sites in Wollongong, after the regional planning authority signed off on a new complex for the former Sam’s Warehouse site. The Southern Joint Regional Planning Panel (JRPP) met on Thursday to approve the tower, and swiftly decided there were no issues with the 25 storey residential and retail building. The 79.6 metre building – at the corner of Rawson Street and Railway Parade – will have 80 apartments and parking for 126 cars. There will be five retail spaces – most likely filled with general shops and possibly a restaurant – on the first level, the plans said. Standing at just below the maximum allowable height for the site, the building will be visible from Belmore Basin and Wollongong lighthouse, but – in a recommendation to the panel –Wollongong council staff said it would not “significantly dominate the skyline”. Speaking at the JRPP meeting, resident Ron Knowles disagreed with the council’s views, saying the building would combine with others to block the view of the Illawarra escarpment from the coast line. Mr Knowles also noted the council’s own future vision for the city centre – contained in its draft Public Spaces Public Life policy – advocated for a review of height limits and more construction at a “human scale”. But a council planner told the panel this policy was still “a visioning document”, and panel member Michael Mantei said the panel had no power to reject plans which complied with the council’s current development controls. The Railway Parade development is not the only tall building due transform the western edge of the CBD in the coming years. For instance, there is an existing approval for a similarly high hotel building on nearby Regent Street. However, developers have now abandoned plans to build the tourism complex and have lodged a proposal for high rise apartments. The panel members voted unanimously to approve the Railway Parade plans.

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