The development is the first stage of the Barracks, which is to have 313 apartments and front Vernon Circle. Future stages will front London Circuit. It will have space for six retail tenancies and a 750-space public carpark as well as 500 residents' parks.

Two applications have been submitted to the National Capital Authority for the Section 100, formerly known as Block 12 Section 63 - for the construction of a mixed use development and for landscaping works on Blocks 8, 9, 10 and 11 on section 11.

The building, called One City Hill, will "hug" the curve of City Hill and have 12 storeys, including three basement levels of parking and two levels of ground and above-ground parking. It will be 25 metres high.

According to the application, 700 units will be built on the former 2.6-hectare carpark as well as 38,500 square metres of commercial space and 5322 square metres of retail floorspace.

In June, The Canberra Times reported the Morris Property Group planned for a multi-use development with up to 1200 apartments across four buildings, but the application suggests 700 units and more commercial space, which would generate more traffic. The units include studio apartments, one, two and three-bedroom apartments.

Morris Property Group development manager Kieren Sutton said the application was just for stage one of the Barracks.

Asked to clarify whether the group planned 1200 or 700 apartments in all, Mr Sutton said the site had the potential for up to 1200 residential apartments, but the final mix would come down to market demand.

"At this stage we are exploring a number of masterplan with the view to including residential, commercial office and retail spaces to create a vibrant new precinct for Canberra," he said.

Morris Property Group bought the block from Mirvac, which bought the site from the ACT government in a joint venture with Leightons for $93 million in 2007. The Morris group purchase settled for $85 million earlier this year.

The estimated $500 million development, designed by Sydney-based architects Francis-Jones Morehen Thorp (FJMT), will be built in four stages. Mr Sutton said a works approval for stage two of the precinct was likely to be lodged later this year.

"From our initial consultation with the community we had an extremely enthusiastic response from local residents and office workers wanting to see this site come to life and bring amenity to this part of the city," he said.

"The overall precinct will include a public plaza with retail spaces including shops, cafes, restaurants as well as a long-awaited supermarket for this part of the city. Retail spaces will also front London Circuit, Knowles Place and Edinburgh Avenue."

He said at this stage a supermarket was planned to be "full scale" and to take about 1500 square metres.

"The supermarket is for the future stages so we haven't got the exact details," he said.

"From the community consultation, we had a lot of residents in the area who said they had to work to the Canberra centre to get their groceries."

If approved, construction of One City Hill is planned to start early next year, with the first residents expected to move in by this time 2021.

A National Capital Authority spokesperson said it aimed to finalised its consideration of formal applications within 15 working days.

The whole precinct is expected to take up to six years to be built.