A hotel planned for a major development in Molonglo has been scrapped with plans submitted for further apartments instead.
Canberra-based PK Nominees has submitted amended plans for the third stage of the Koko Molonglo development at the intersection of John Gorton Drive, Steve Irwin Avenue and Gornall Street in Wright.
The development, which is a five-minute drive from the future Molonglo Town Centre, already includes residential apartments, a Woolworths, Aldi and Capital Chemist.
PK Nominees paid $10.25 million for the block in 2017, and first submitted plans for a hotel fronting the Steve Irwin Avenue side of the project in mid 2022.
The seven-storey hotel would have included 101 hotel rooms with a rooftop terrace and a basement car park.
The new plans keep substantially the same building design as the original application, but with each hotel room converted to an apartment.
Seven of the apartments would be one-bedroom or studio apartments, while another 30 would be one-bedroom apartments with a study space. Another 58 apartments would have two bedrooms, and the remaining six would have three bedrooms.
The landscaping of the rooftop communal space has been redesigned to include barbecue facilities, raised planters and meeting spaces for residents.
A total of 177 car parks will be provided for the residents in the basement of the building, which was already constructed under the existing development application.
The changes are a "logical and orderly completion" of the section of Koko Molonglo, according to the development application, and "provides an efficient use of serviced urban land and a more appropriate long-term residential outcome for the site, without generating materially different off-site impacts".
PK Nominees director, John Krnc said the changes would have little impact on existing residential and commercial tenants, or on customers at the supermarkets.
"All stages of the Koko development have been notified at previous DAs," Mr Krnc said.
"The basement parking, storage and access have all been constructed in earlier stages, so minimal impacts."
Mr Krnc said the construction timeline would be dependent on approval from the planning authority, which he hoped would come through by the end of the year.
The application is one of a number of amendments put before the planning authority this year in which developers have sought to change their already approved plans for commercial developments to include residential housing.
In June, HTI Group submitted an application to convert its plans for a luxury hotel on London Circuit into student accommodation.
A month later, Art Group scrapped plans for a commercial building in its mixed-use development on the corner of Northbourne Avenue and Macarthur Avenue, converting the already approved office space into an apartment building.
Mr Krnc said the decision to amend its approved hotel plan was based on growing demand for residential accommodation.
"The feasibility of serviced apartments, hotel use is no longer visible," Mr Krnc said.
Property Council ACT executive director Ashlee Berry said that while additional housing in the territory was needed, the decisions should be viewed as "canaries in the coal mine".
"A successful city needs a mix of homes, hotels, offices, tourism infrastructure and employment-generating developments," Ms Berry said.
"When feasibility pressures become too great, investment doesn't necessarily disappear, but the range of projects being delivered becomes narrower."
