Plans for an $11.6 million, multi-building unit complex at Leura would cover a large vacant block on the western approach to the Mall.
A Sydney-based company, H D Squared Developments, has lodged a development application to build 34 units on the highway beside the off ramp from the west. It is land which has long been empty, left over from the Roads and Traffic Authority after the highway upgrade.
It is near the roundabout entry into Leura and has been occasionally used as an impromptu parking area during village’s spring and autumn fairs.
The plans, which have been lodged with council, call for three apartment blocks, two at three storeys and one four storeys high, built over basement parking.
At the front of the site, closest to the roundabout, would be a swimming pool, a “transparent and light structure” providing modulation to the higher residential buildings, according to the DA.
The units would be buffered from the highway with new tree plantings, including turpentines and Mountain blue gums, as well as existing plantings along the northern section of Leura Mall. The buildings will be set back from the road at least five metres.
The statement of environmental effects with the DA noted: “The building assists in presenting the precinct as the gateway to Leura Village by providing a counterpoint to the Spires development diagonally across the Leura Mall roundabout.
“The significant landscaping proposed will also help to blend the development into the Leura streetscape – unlike the Spires, where the buildings dominate.”
The DA noted that more than a quarter of all Mountains households contain just one person, and 35 per cent two people, so this accommodation would provide alternative housing for down-sizers or possibly for students at the hotel school.
The development would have seven studio apartments, 10 one-bedroom and 17 two-bedroom, with parking for 41 cars in a basement accessed from Den Hogan Drive.
The report continued: “It is considered this development is in the public interest given it will assist Blue Mountains City Council with providing much needed alternative housing for changing household types and sizes in the area. The proposed development is of a high design quality and incorporates gateway features that integrate with the surrounding garden areas of Leura.”
The middle and largest apartment block exceeds council’s 12-metre height limit by two metres. While a flat roof would keep it within the limits, the DA argued that is not in keeping with the “architectural character of Leura which the development design achieves”.
The DA is on public exhibition until August 10.