28 January 2020

One City Hill promises to transform City West and city living

| Karyn Starmer
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One City Hill

One City Hill will be on the corner of Vernon Circle and an extended Edinburgh Avenue. Image: Supplied.

The City West precinct is set for an exciting transformation with Morris Property Group’s One City Hill development leading the way.

The Section 100 site, long used as surface parking on London Circuit, fronts onto the southern approach to the city making One City Hill a gateway development for Canberra city. The development area is currently bordered by London Circuit and Vernon Circle, and a new extension of Edinburgh Avenue, mirroring Constitution Avenue, will form the southern side of the complex. Knowles Place, beside the Canberra City Police Station, will be extended for access to the precinct.

Morris Property Group Director Barry Morris said the Edinburgh Avenue extension would provide better connectivity through the city centre.

“City West has been a growing part of the city centre for the past 10 years and developing this part of the quadrant of the City Hill precinct is quite significant,” Mr Morris said.

“One City Hill will deliver an extension of the city’s infrastructure and, combined with the connection of the next stage of the light rail down to Commonwealth Park, this area will become more vibrant and exciting.

“The new City West stop will be parallel to the site here on London Circuit and the ACT Government already anticipates this stop will be as busy as the Alinga Street stop,” Mr Morris said.

Edinburgh Avenue and Knowles Place

An extension of Edinburgh Avenue and Knowles Place will transform access to the City West precinct. Image: Supplied.

One City Hill plans include 345 apartments and approximately 1500 square metres of retail on the ground floor, including a full-size supermarket along the extension of Knowles Place.

“While apartment living is not new to the area, the supermarket and retail spaces will fill a long-felt need by the residents of the city’s west and Acton who currently face a long walk or a drive to Civic to do their shopping,” Mr Morris said.

As well as the residential and retail components, there will be 1200 car parks, including a 750-space public car park replacing the surface parking. Mr Morris says while part of the surface car parking has now been closed for construction, One City Hill will eventually add to the number of public car parking spaces in the city.

Barry Morris

Morris Property Group Director, Barry Morris. Photo: George Tsotsos.

In its final form, the precinct will consist of four buildings. The development will be staged with a progressive hand over as each building is completed.

“What this means is that a completed stage will be open and ready for use while each of the subsequent sections are constructed,” Mr Morris said.

The site was sold by the ACT Government more than 10 years ago but had not been developed despite its location and significant potential. Morris Property Group purchased the site from Leighton Properties and Mirvac in June 2018. Digging for the basement has commenced and will run through until September 2020. Completion of the first stage is planned for 2022.

The One City Hill Sales Gallery, featuring a full 3-bedroom display apartment, is located on London Circuit (across from Farrell Place). For more information visit One City Hill.

One City Hill

Aerial view of One City Hill site. Image: Adam McGrath.

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