ApartmentsChris ThomsonTue 11 Aug 26
Krnc Hunts for Hotel-to-Housing Switch on Canberra’s Western Edge
Canberra developer Krnc Group has applied to convert an approved seven-storey hotel to a 101-apartment residential tower for a site on an avenue named after late Queensland croc wrangler Steve Irwin.
Under the proposed switch, the number of storeys would stay the same and 37 one, 58 two and 6 three-bedroom units would be built on Steve Irwin Avenue in the outer western suburb of Wright.
Designed by Canberra-based Oztal Architects, the project would have 177 car spaces across the basement and upper ground levels.
Krnc Group, owned by John Krnc, is also planning a communal garden, barbecue area and pergolas for the building’s rooftop.
The site is in Wright’s established KOKO Molonglo precinct, developed as a mixed-use centre with an ALDI, Woolworths Metro and KFC. A Hungry Jack’s is also planned.
Krnc Group’s application has argued the amended proposal would not introduce a use foreign or incompatible to the area.
“Rather, it completes an already planned built-form element within a precinct that is expressly mixed-use in character and already supported by supermarkets, food outlets, local services, open space and active-travel infrastructure,” the application said.
“[It] will sit comfortably within that emerging pattern of development and will contribute additional resident population to support the viability and day-to-day activity of these nearby uses.”
The suburb of Wright, where street names follow a conservation theme, was named after late Nobel Prize-nominated poet Judith Wright. Like Irwin—known internationally for his hit TV series The Crocodile Hunter—Wright had a keen interest in conservation.
Krnc Group has been contacted for comment for this story.
