The University of Newcastle has revealed its plans for a nine-storey student accommodation building in the heart of the city.
The $87-million development, located at the university's CBD campus between Hunter Street and Honeysuckle Drive, will be home to 445 students and include communal facilities and retail space on the ground floor.
The plan, which has been lodged with the state government and is currently on public exhibition, includes 82 bicycle spaces but no additional car parks.
The 10,700-square-metre development will instead have "a focus on encouraging the use of active transport", such as the nearby light rail.
University of Newcastle Vice-Chancellor Professor Alex Zelinsky said addressing the housing needs of our students was one of the organisation's highest priorities.
"We are moving closer to having shovels in the ground and making our vision of providing more accommodation options in the city for new and existing students a reality," Professor Zelinsky said.
"With the proposed 445 beds in this new building, we aim to provide some relief to the growing demand for student accommodation."
Planning documents say the development would also ease pressure on the city's housing market, particularly near the university, "lowering rental prices and allowing greater rental supply for the general community in need of rental housing".
The accommodation will provide a mix of student room types and sizes "that meet a variety of price-points and student needs", and will be open to domestic and international students.
"The proposed student accommodation building will offer a range of room types including micro studios, studios, twins and larger room clusters (four, five and six beds)," planning documents state.
There would be far reaching economic benefits and the nearly 500 students would "enhance the night-time economy and revitalise Hunter Street".
"The proposed campus student accommodation will provide the Newcastle CBD a critical mass," the documents state.
The development has been designed to establish the site as a "prominent city marker". It is expected to create 136 jobs during construction and 27 operational jobs.
The assessment process will take several months, however UoN is confident the project will get the green light, with construction expected to begin in 2025 and take about 18 months.
Early works to prepare the site for construction are due to begin at the corner of Worth Place and Civic Lane in late 2024.
The work will include the relocation of approximately 45 existing parking spaces, but there will be no impact on overall parking capacity during construction.
The project is part of the second stage of the university's plans for the Honeysuckle precinct after it bought the two-hectare site from the state government in 2018.
The approved master plan for the precinct includes three buildings on Honeysuckle Drive and four on Civic Lane.
It also owns a building on Hunter Street which will be demolished to open a pedestrian link from the Honeysuckle campus to the NUspace building.
