Developer Adds 24-Storey Tower to Wollongong Pipeline

Plans for a 24-storey tower that includes a 36-key hotel are the latest in a slew of projects slated for Wollongong. 

Brothers Mark and Maroun Taouk’s TQM Design and Construct has filed the plans, its sixth for the city, with the Wollongong City Council.

The Design Workshop Australia-designed project at 4 Auburn Street comprises the hotel, three commercial spaces and 59 residential apartments. 

The plans also include 742sq m of ground-floor retail and 138 car parking spaces across three basement levels. The residential apartments would cover 5070sq m and the hotel 2411sq m. 

The total development cost has been projected at $51 million. 

TQM development director Mark Taouk said they were keen to make use of the tower’s location.

“With the project planned to be one of the tallest buildings in Wollongong, we wanted to take advantage of the views we have,” Taouk said.

“We want to make the most of the panoramic northern, eastern and southern views of the beach, ocean and the Illawarra Escarpment. You can see all the way down and up the coast.”

The Auburn Street project is one of six projects TQM has in Wollongong.

Two of its projects are currently under construction—a $55-million, 14-storey mixed-use tower with 50 residential units on Atchison Street and the sold-out Novello, a $72-million, 62-unit residential tower on Young Street.

▲ An impression of Anya Solutions’ planned tower with 78 hotel rooms and 68 apartments at 24-30 Kenny Street, Wollongong.

The developer’s $89.5-million, 19-storey, 77-unit residential tower Avante on Rawson Street was completed in May 2020.

Two more of TQM’s projects in Wollongong are currently in the planning.

Wollongong has seen a flurry of activity lately with Anya Solutions filing plans for a $33.7-million, 18-storey hotel and residential tower in the city.

Belvedere has filed plans for a $14.47-million, seven-storey building.

A Knight Frank report in March said that there is a pipeline of $400 million in future projects in addition to the approximately $1.6 billion already invested in Wollongong.