Prominent Newcastle businessman Paul Siderovski has lodged plans for a massive high-rise apartment development in Newcastle West which would eclipse the city's tallest building.
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The 22-storey, $70 million building on the corner of National Park and King streets has three more floors than Miller Property Corporation's Verve unit towers next door.
Doma Group's planned Store redevelopment, at 30 storeys, will eclipse both when it is built.
The Newcastle Herald reported in October that a syndicate of local developers was working on concept plans for twin unit towers on the site of the Proski store, Newcastle Leagues Club, Musos Corner and an ANZ bank branch.
Company searches show the firm behind the plans, Exp No 1 National Park Street Pty Ltd, is owned by Mr Siderovski and fellow businessman Gavan Reynolds.
Mr Siderovski is the sole director of the development company and the sole director and shareholder of Exp Holdings, which holds 95 per cent of Exp No 1 National Park Street's shares.
Mr Reynolds is the director and sole shareholder of Lealtad, which owns the other 5 per cent.
Mr Reynolds is a real estate auctioneer, part-time racing car driver and long-time friend and business associate of Mr Siderovski.
He also runs a Newcastle-based loan shark company which offers short-term, high-interest business loans with rates ranging from 48 per cent up to default rates of 120 per cent.
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Mr Siderovski is the founder and managing director of SIDCOR Chartered Accountants.
The Newcastle Herald reported this year that the self-made millionaire has been involved in a dispute with disgruntled franchisees to his Yogurtland business.
Mr Reynolds said he was not concerned about publicity surrounding Yogurtland affecting the project.
"Knowing the whole truth of the situation, as opposed to the portions of it that are reported, I don't have any concerns. We're just getting on with life," he said. "It's a beautiful site. The rejuvenation of that precinct is such a great thing for the city."
Project director Rod Cashion, of KDC urban planners, said the owners had "no immediate plans" to put the apartments on the market.
"Although there are some mixed messages about the state of the market out there in the press at the moment, rather than make decisions based on what the sentiment might be next week or next month, we have taken a view that the Newcastle market has strong fundamentals and that the apartment market, in particular, will continue to grow and improve," Mr Cashion said.
The median price of Newcastle apartments has fallen more than 10 per cent in the past year amid a downturn in the national property market.
Newcastle architectural firm CKDS, who were also involved in Verve, designed the National Park Street apartments with Sydney-based company Marchese Partners.
Mr Cashion said the developers had a "strong personal interest in ensuring that this iconic position is developed to its potential and is recognised as one of the city's architectural landmarks".
The Hunter and Central Coast Joint Regional Planning Panel will be the consent authority for the development due to its scale.