Doma Group has lodged plans to build a 678-space car park on the site of the Store building in Hunter Street as stage one of a $200 million redevelopment.
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The $20 million, five-storey car park, which will be the largest in the inner-city, will float above a bus interchange next to the Wickham train and light rail station.
The parking spaces will provide private, paid parking for about 12 to 18 months but ultimately will be reserved for residents and workers in the two 30-storey towers Doma plans to build on the site.
A statement of environmental effects (SEE) lodged with Doma’s development application says the car park will include 500 spots for residents, 158 for office workers and 20 for retail tenants. The basements of the residential and office towers will include another 77 spaces.
Work on demolishing the heritage-listed Store building is due to start this month. Doma then expects to build the car park and bus interchange, for which Transport for NSW has already obtained development approval.
The state government’s Hunter Development Corporation bought the site in 2015 and announced in April that Doma had won the tender to redevelop it.
Documents prepared by Newcastle planners KDC say Doma will submit a master plan and staged development proposal for the overall site to Newcastle City Council “in the immediate future”.
The rounded rectangle car park sits on V-shaped concrete pillars above the bus station. The project schedule is designed to “facilitate the opening of the operational NBI [Newcastle Bus Interchange] as a priority project for the NSW Government,” the SEE says.
The Newcastle Herald reported in November that Transport for NSW had ticked off on a review of environmental factors for the redevelopment, effectively granting approval for the bus interchange and the Store building’s demolition.
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The Store is listed as an item of local significance on the state heritage register.
The Department of Planning and Environment ruled in June that the overall Store project was not a state-significant development, meaning it will be assessed by the council and the Joint Regional Planning Panel and not the Minister for Planning.
The council’s planning rules say buildings over 48 metres high require an architectural design competition before approval, but the Government Architect’s Office has waived this requirement for the 90-metre Store towers because the Doma design has already passed through HDC’s competitive tender process.
The GAO has requested a design review panel be established to review the project through its detailed design and building phases.
Doma’s planning documents say it will have to drive piles up to 10 metres into the ground to support what will be easily Newcastle’s tallest building.
“As such, it is expected that the piles will be constructed below the water table, which sits fairly high on the site,” the SEE says.
“This development application will be required to be referred to NSW Office of Water as the development may penetrate the aquifer and interfere with water in the aquifer.”
