Avoca Beach: Revised shop-top-housing plans lodged for 168 Avoca Drive

The new owner of a vacant block opposite one of the Central Coast’s most popular beaches has lodged revised plans to freshen up a unit block first approved for an upgrade in 1989.

Artist's impression of a shop-top-housing development at 168 Avoca Drive, Avoca Beach. Picture: supplied

New modified plans have been lodged to take a four-storey shop-top-housing proposal first approved more than three decades ago into the 21st century.

Plans were first approved for the vacant block at 168 Avoca Dr, Avoca Beach, back in 1989 with what was then Gosford City Council.

The original plans were for two ground floor shops, six units on the upper three levels and eight parking spaces.

The vacant site, which has been used as a makeshift car park for years, was purchased by new owners in March last year for $7m.

The new owners have since lodged revised plans to modify the approved development application (DA) to include a basement parking level, reduce the commercial space to a single tenancy and reduce the number of apartments to five with just a single penthouse unit on the fourth floor.

Revised plans have been lodged for a shop-top-housing development at 168 Avoca Drive, Avoca Beach. Picture: Google

The new plans also feature an internal lift from the basement.

The addition of a basement parking level increases the onsite parking to 14 spaces.

Revised plans have been lodged for a shop-top-housing development at 168 Avoca Drive, Avoca Beach. Picture: supplied

“The bulk, scale, function, use of the site of the development will remain substantially the same as the approved designs,” the DA states.

“The external facade has undergone a modernisation to reflect the character of developments as recently approved in Avoca Beach.”

The original plans also featured a pitched roof, which will be replaced by a more “contemporary” flat roof that will include a lift over run and solar panels.

The flat roof also brings the overall height of the building down almost 3m from the initial 16.8m approved in 1989 to 13.9m.

The building envelope of a shop-top-housing development approved in 1989 for 168 Avoca Drive, Avoca Beach. Picture: supplied

The proposed building envelope of the modified facade and flat roof. Picture: supplied

However this is still about one storey or 2.4m taller than what would be allowed on the site under the current planning controls.

The DA states the development was deemed to have commenced back in 1992 with the demolition of an old single-storey shop and partial excavation of the 790sq m site.

The most striking difference is to the building’s facade which now features rounded corners and an “indent” in the centre which the architect states “achieves a dynamic and sculptural form that harmonises with the coastal environment”.

The modifications remain with council for determination.