THE Swansea Medical Centre and Laverty Pathology clinic will be demolished to make way for a multi-storey apartment block and commercial space.
It's one of the larger developments of its size in the area, with 28-units, two rooftop courtyards and a ground-floor carpark.
The developer saw an opportunity to provide an alternate form of housing for young people and empty-nesters, Land Development Solutions project manager Jason Harman said.
"I think the council were very supportive of it because Swansea looks pretty tired, it needs some investment and a lot of other developers steered away because of flood restrictions," he said.
"Lake Macquarie City Council understand that granting consent to a DA of this size will stimulate further development.
"They were really proactive and worked in with us; our developer has long ties to the area and has owned these properties for a long time.
"It took him a long time to acquire them all and he wanted to do something nice, he's not some fly-in-fly-out developer, he's been associated with the Hunter for a long time."
Residents will have 270-degree views over Swansea from the rooftop, with one and two bedroom apartment options available.
The building itself is comprised of a three and four storey building, one more than 45 per cent higher than the development standard and the other 31.5 per cent over the usual margins.
A lot of that came down to raising the height due to large portions of Swansea being flood-prone, Mr Harman said.
"Council is being very pro-development to allow the building to extend like that," he said.
"It's fantastic for the area, this will see money injected into the area - it's hard to get to this scale because you have to consolidate multiple lots to do something like this and you're paying so much for land.
"Hopefully this will encourage people like those at the shopping centre to spend some money."
All-up, the development wipes out the two-storey building at 45 Josephson Street as well as about five lots on Lake Street.
It's expected to move fast, with conversations already under way with builders in the hopes to get tenants in as soon as possible.
The building itself was designed by O'Connell Architecture and Design, the firm involved in the design of Highpoint Apartments at Charlestown.
Mr Harman said the developer has gone above and beyond to create an attractive project.
"He's really about a great product, not the end dollar," he said.
It's estimated it will take about four months before any building can begin.
