Legacy wins state approval for 207 Corrimal apartments in $120m stage

The Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure has approved 207 apartments across four residential flat buildings in Corrimal, the Illawarra Mercury reported on 23 October 2026, clearing Stage 2A of developer Legacy’s redevelopment of the former Corrimal Coke Works site.

Stage 2A is part of The Works, Legacy’s plan for the coke works precinct. Stage 1, with 179 apartments, is already under construction. The original master plan allowed 550 apartments, but the department’s determination put the overall target at 850 dwellings. The final number is not settled, the Illawarra Mercury reported, because Legacy plans to use state height bonuses to lift yield. The report did not include a lodgement date, a state significant development number, or a street address for Stage 2A, and none of those details could be confirmed through the New South Wales Planning Portal before publication.

In assessing the application, the department found the four-building stage consistent with the emerging character of the Corrimal Coke Works precinct, and concluded the additional traffic the apartments would generate would not create unacceptable impacts on the surrounding road network, according to the Illawarra Mercury’s account of the department’s findings. The outlet reported the approved stage is costed at $120 million, a figure attributed to the application rather than to any construction contract let since the approval.

Why it matters

Corrimal Coke Works is a former industrial site, and a 207-apartment approval moving through the state significant development pathway, rather than through Wollongong City Council, shows the scale at which the state is prepared to assess this precinct. For operators holding former industrial land in the Illawarra, the signal is that a staged brownfield scheme can clear a state assessment at volume.

Legacy’s staged approach leaves most of its stated target still to come. Stages 1 and 2A together account for 386 of the 850 dwellings in the department’s target, leaving 464 for later stages that have not been reported as lodged. How quickly Legacy brings those later stages forward, and whether they follow the same state assessment pathway as Stage 2A, will say more about the precinct’s delivery timeline than this single approval does on its own.

The wider Illawarra pipeline is moving on more than one front. A few kilometres away at Belmore Basin, Wollongong City Council staff have recommended approval for ADM Projects’ 36-apartment conversion of the Boat Harbour Motel site, a council planning panel application still undetermined as at 13 October 2026. The two sites are moving through different pathways, one state significant and one council panel.

The numbers

The Illawarra Mercury reported 207 apartments across four residential flat buildings in Stage 2A, at a stage cost of $120 million. Stage 1 holds 179 apartments and is under construction. The department’s determination put the precinct’s overall target at 850 dwellings, against 550 apartments in the original master plan.

What’s next

The Illawarra Mercury’s report did not include a construction start date, a builder, or a settlement timeline for Stage 2A, and a state significant development number and lodgement date for the approval were not located in the New South Wales Planning Portal at the time of writing. Legacy’s remaining stages, covering the balance of the 850-dwelling target, have not been reported as lodged. Any later stages at Corrimal Coke Works will need to clear the same state assessment pathway that approved Stage 2A, rather than a Wollongong City Council development application.