Hunter Street office building wins council planning approval

APPROVED: An artist's impression of the EJE Architecture-designed Darby Plaza office building in Hunter Street. The building sits partly on the old rail corridor.

Newcastle council approved plans for an eight-storey office block in Hunter Street and a 16-room boarding house in Hamilton on Tuesday night.

Hunter developer GWH received the green light for its Darby Plaza redevelopment, which includes 138 parking spaces.

The building will sit on a site which encompasses part of the former heavy rail corridor near the junction of Hunter and Darby streets.

GWH had intended to include apartments in the building after winning a state government tender to buy the land last year but ditched them in favour of 8000 square metres of office space.

The plan includes a public square, part of which will be dedicated to the council.

The Hamilton unit project.

The council approved a boarding house at 147 Beaumont Street, Hamilton, despite receiving 33 objections from neighbours concerned about the scale of the project, parking and loss of privacy.

The council also approved a Hunter and Central Coast Development Corporation plan to subdivide five hectares of land at Honeysuckle to allow for road widening and the sale of a 5647 square metre waterfront block for units.