OVER-50s residential developers are not the retiring type, remaining highly active in Queensland during the coronavirus crisis with millions of dollars in deals and new developments.
A sizeable chunk of dirt within a high-profile subdivision in the Brisbane-Gold Coast growth corridor has been snapped up by GemLife as pickings for large-scale development sites become increasingly slim.
It has acquired the balance of Sunland’s The Heights estate at Pimpama in a recently-settled $29.7 million deal with plans for an over-50s “lifestyle resort”.
The 46.41ha site has preliminary approval for 267 detached residential lots.
Ray White Special Projects’ Matthew Fritzsche, who marketed the property with colleagues Mark Creevey and Tony Williams, said the expressions of interest campaign drew very strong inquiry and serious interest from a number of local, interstate and international groups.
“There’s limited developable land on the Gold Coast of this scale and quality, and it showed in the strong number of inquiries we had throughout the campaign,” he said.
“Interest was predominantly from the residential and retirement/manufactured home estate sector.”
Mr Creevey said the sale on the northern Gold Coast highlighted that even in testing times, development sites with an element of approval would always be appealing.
“This is one of southeast Queensland’s most recognised land estates in a market with rapidly diminishing forward land supply,” he said.
Mr Williams said Pimpama was one of Australia’s fastest growing regions and experiencing a major transformation with new parks, school, sporting facilities and retail precincts.
“More than $300 million in new infrastructure is under construction nearby,” he said.
Meanwhile another over-50s residential developer, Halcyon, has been busy completing the final stages of its flagship $300 million, 500-home Halcyon Greens community at Pimpama.
It is also kickstarting construction of 120 homes worth $66 million across two new developments at Buderim on the Sunshine Coast and Logan Reserve, south of Brisbane.
“We are focused on continuing to build quality homes … and in turn ensuring we help rebuild Australia‘s economy by preserving the livelihoods of hundreds of contractors, hundreds of suppliers and our own staff,” said Halcyon joint managing director Dr Bevan Geissmann.