Development could soon begin on the empty block on the corner of Northbourne Avenue and Wakefield Avenue.
Canberra-based developer Geocon has been given conditional approval by the planning authority to build 505 apartments on the site, which has sat empty since the vacant government offices were demolished in 2023.
The mix of one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments would be spread across two nine-storey and two 14-storey buildings according to the application, and would be serviced by 712 car parks across four levels of basement car parks.
The apartment complex would sit on the Braddon side of Wakefield Avenue, just down the road from the recently completed Soho complex, and diagonally across from another multibuilding complex by Art Group, which is currently before the planning authority.
The planning authority approved Geocon's plans, subject to dozens of conditions, earlier this month. The conditions included showing that no less than 70 per cent of the apartments would receive three hours of sunlight between 9am and 3pm on the winter solstice, receiving endorsements from various government departments and revisions to the size of the apartments.
Geocon lodged its first development application for the site with the planning authority in May 2025.
That design included 558 apartments across four buildings with small-scale commercial spaces on the ground level.
In July 2025, the planning authority sought further information on the solar access in the apartments, and raised concerns about the privacy and internal amenity issues arising from the small distance between the buildings.
Geocon submitted its revised plans, which it described as a "deliberate redesign response to the issues identified in the pre-decision advice".
Under the new designs, 360 of the now 505 dwellings would achieve more than three hours of sunlight between 9am and 3pm on the winter solstice.
However, the National Capital Authority did not consider the evidence provided with the application to have sufficiently demonstrated the apartments would receive the required amount of light, and required more information as one condition of the approval.
To address the concerns about building separation, the designs were reworked to involve increased physical separation between the buildings, redesign of the apartment layouts, greater use of non-habitable and solid facade conditions, and simplified stepped built-form relationships.
The lower half of the balconies facing the other buildings were redesigned as solid forms to further protect residents' privacy, with screens the full height of the balcony which can be opened and closed by the residents.
However, further separation on the eighth storey was required for approval.
An increase in the number of one-bedroom apartments to more than 60 per cent of the building was not supported, and revised plans for the mix of apartment sizes was included in the conditions of the approval.
Geocon first purchased the 10,663-square-metre site in March 2025 for $54 million, a year after it had been listed for sale by the previous developer, Evri Group.
The Canberra-based developer had owned the site since 2000, and had secured development approval for a build-to-rent apartment precinct. That development would have included 392 apartments across two 13-storey buildings, as well as a six-storey office building.
Build-to-rent apartments are managed by a single operator, rather than individual landlords, and can offer more stability to renters. However, Evri Group struggled to find an investment partner, and ultimately listed it for sale in February 2024 with the existing development application attached.
Geocon confirmed at the time of the sale that it would not continue with the approved build-to-rent plans.
