The view from the rooftop of what is for now Newcastle's tallest building is, as future resident Rebecca Phillips described it, "spectacular".
Rising 66 metres above Newcastle, GWH's Sky Residences tower between Hunter and King streets offers expansive views of the city, harbour and beaches few have seen before.
The Hunter development company held its official topping-out ceremony on the building's rooftop "sky lounge" on Friday.
The building is one of only a few 19-storey developments to be approved in the area and is the tallest the company has constructed.
"It's a wonderful achievement given the obstacles we've had in our way. When we started this it was pre-COVID and we've continued which is fantastic," GWH executive director Grahame Chevalley said.
"We've obviously had the wet weather and the wind is an issue here but the team has done a great job.
"We've made up some time and are on track."
Mr Chevalley said Sky Residences' first stage consisted of 116 one, two, three and four-bedroom apartments.
Only 15 remain to be sold and residents are expected to move in during Spring.
Rebecca Phillips bought an apartment on level 18 earlier this year for her partner and two girls to live in. They will relocate from Adamstown and it will be a a full-circle move for Ms Phillips, who lived in an apartment in the city "many years" ago.
She said the city's ongoing transformation had played a part in the motivation for making the move. She also credited GWH's reputation as the deciding factor.
"One of the reasons that we chose Sky was the reputation and experience of GWH being locals of Newcastle," she said. "There is uncertainty buying off the plan so knowing who you are essentially partnering with gave us confidence to move forward with the purchase which was a big decision."
GWH recently started work on stage two of the project, a 10-storey tower that will front King Street. About 60 per cent of the building's 73 apartments have already been sold. It is expected to be ready for residents mid-2022.
"We had approval to do both [stages] but the market was not as hot then as it is now," Mr Chevalley said.
"About four of five months ago when the market really started to take off we decided to push on with stage two."
Mr Chevalley said most buyers had been local to date, but he expected more out-of-town purchases to come.
"That will start, I expect," he said. "We've got the COVID-refugees coming out Sydney to a certain extent."
GWH is also constructing its Darby Plaza development on Hunter Street, an eight-storey commercial building with 8000 square metres of office space.
