Three high rise towers proposed for former Wollongong gasworks site
Keira Place: 800 Dwellings on 1.6 hectares
More than 800 dwellings. One developer. One Wollongong CBD block.
Urban Property Group has construction underway on Stage 1 of its Keira Place precinct and has now lodged a Stage 2 application proposing three towers up to 30 storeys on the same 1.6-hectare site.
Stage 1 of Keira Place comprises 150 apartments across two nine-storey buildings, including 27 affordable housing units and 18 specialist disability accommodation dwellings, along with ground-floor retail and commercial space.
That work is barely a month old. Stage 2 - which went on public exhibition yesterday, June 10 - proposes a further 391 apartments and 266 co-living units. The three buildings range from 12 to 30 storeys across a total gross floor area of almost 50,000 square metres, with an affordable housing target of approximately 15 per cent.
Urban described the recent groundbreaking as “a significant milestone for the project and our long‑term commitment to Wollongong”.
Stage 1 secured approval under the Minns Government’s Infill Affordable Housing Bonus, which allows increased height or density where at least 10 per cent of dwellings are committed to affordable housing for a minimum of 15 years. Those units must be managed by a registered community housing provider — in this case Evolve Housing.
The Stage 2 height - 30 storeys on the taller tower - substantially exceeds what has been approved on the Smith Street corridor to date, and is likely to draw scrutiny from Wollongong City Council and neighbouring landholders. Submissions in response to Stage 1’s exhibition raised flood management and road upgrade concerns which were subsequently addressed through consent conditions.
The co-living component is also commercially unproven at this scale in the Illawarra. It has found traction in inner Sydney and Melbourne but remains largely untested in regional markets. However, another Urban Property Group project not far away on Flinders Street, a proposed 127m mixed-use tower, includes a co-living component. Whether demand exists at that scale in a regional market remains untested.
Project documents are on exhibition until Tuesday, July 7, 2026, at the NSW Planning Portal.
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