Piazza, cafe and peacock coop earmarked for Blake St Makrylos tower

The day after major new plans for its seven-storey towers in The Gardens were revealed, developer Makrylos has promised the development will include a raft of improvements to the public realm.

DEVELOPER Makrylos has vowed its ‘landmark’ tower proposal at The Gardens will provide the public with new open spaces, with Indigenous artwork, a public cafe and a peacock coop.

Also promised for the ‘Elysium Green’ development is a sensory garden, playground and a community herb garden.

Makrylos Group director Gina Makrylos unveiled the changes, vowing the company had “listened to neighbouring residents”.

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It comes after new plans for the dual-tower at 4 Blake St were unveiled on Monday, which would be downscaled from its old plans.

The development would remain seven storeys tall and would have 101 apartments of two or three bedrooms.

Ms Makrylos said the new apartments would “create a building that will be at the forefront of a new standard for sustainable green architecture in tropical Australia”.

An artists impression of the new Blake Street tower. Picture: Makrylos.

“The building design focusing heavily on providing extensive high quality public realm spaces at street level, to encourage the neighbours, residents and the community to come together to celebrate this magnificent location,” she said.

A public piazza in the precinct would be named Agostini Place after the nearby Botanic Gardens’ head gardener between 1933 and 1956, Isidoro Agostini.

Other features promised include:

• A public e-bike station within the site
• Indigenous artwork of local flora and fauna on public display within the site
• A boab tree
• A two-metre tall green wall and drinking fountain
• A cycad garden
• A public garden
• A children’s playground
• A peacock coop
• A community herb and vegetable garden
• A sensory garden
• Large shade trees

A new piazza, featured at the foreground, will be included in the development. Picture: Makrylos.

Ms Makrylos said the proposed tower would have a NatHERS energy rating of 8.6 stars, well above the NT’s required 3.5 star rating.

Infrastructure and Planning Minister Eva Lawler refused to comment on the specifics of the development application.

“We have always said projects that bring economic value to the Northern Territory should align with community expectations,” Ms Lawler said.

“Any new applications will go through the necessary process,” she said.

The application will be assessed by the Development Consent Authority.