DOMA development general manager Gavin Edgar said company representatives had met with City of Newcastle's design advisory group last week to discuss the project.

"It's imminent. We've revised and refined the design and we've presented it to the Urban Design Consultative Group at council," Mr Edgar said.

"We're finalising the reports and ready to lodge to the City of Newcastle shortly."

DOMA won concept approval two years ago for two 99-metre towers housing up to 350 apartments, a 12-storey office building, a bus interchange and a five-level car park on the Store site.

The apartments and surrounding landscaping are the only sections of the redevelopment yet to be built.

The company's decision to push ahead with a development application for the two towers indicates it is confident in the city's apartment market.

The Newcastle Herald reported last week that apartment prices in Newcastle had jumped 11.2 per cent in the past year to a new median high of $566,000.

Fellow developer Thirdi Group is working on plans for a 90-metre apartment building on the nearby Dairy Farmers Corner site in Hunter Street.

DOMA has started work on its nine-storey Crossing apartment complex in Merewether Street, Newcastle, and the seven-storey Huntington apartments on the Honeysuckle waterfront.

The owners of the Cambridge Hotel, across the road from the Store, are negotiating with a developer who wants to build an apartment tower on the pub site.

"We're confident about it and pressing ahead with it," Mr Edgar said of the Store project.

"It's got the ability to be staged, so it can be done as two towers together or separately.

"We're encouraged by the migration of people out of the bigger cities. That's a positive move, and there's actually not a lot of supply at the moment.

"Novocastrians get very down on themselves, but, from an outsider looking in, it's got a lot of appeal. I think a lot more people are appreciating that now."

Mr Edgar said the Store building's height would be consistent with the concept master plan, though the appearance of the apartment towers would differ from the original design.

"We think it's a fantastic design. We're quite keen to reveal it at the right time and show everybody."

The Store and Dairy Farmers Corner sites enjoy the city's tallest height limits at 90 metres, or about 30 floors. DOMA won concept approval to exceed the Store limit by 10 per cent.

The approved concept design included several cafe-lined public spaces, known as Brewery Lane, Cooper Plaza, Interchange Square and Rail Line Park, in what is slated to be the centrepiece of Newcastle's new central business district.

The company won development approval this year for a Little National Hotel and adjoining cross-laminated timber office building in Honeysuckle Drive.

Mr Edgar said DOMA was "working through some design and pricing builders" for the project.