A $16.3-million mixed-use project by the Berkelouw family—booksellers since 1812—has been approved for a historic civic site in Newcastle’s East End.

A decade-long planning process for the former School of Arts building at 182-188 Hunter Street—established in the late 1800s as one of Newcastle’s earliest public reading rooms—has come to an end with the approval of final modification to consent conditions.

The project, led by the sixth-generation Berkelouw family—who are behind the Berkelouw and Harry Hartog chains—will transform the ground floor into a new bookstore with five levels of residential apartments above.