Plains at a premium
Projects set for city heart
DEVELOPERS are targeting the final frontier of undeveloped land on the Gold Coast, the city’s floodplains.
Projects worth more than $1 billion are embarked for land surrounding the city’s great heart, with Robina and Merrimac to get the bulk of the projects.
Industry figures say the shortage of land across the Coast available for development had made the former farmland through the city’s centre more attractive.
UDIA State president Steve Harrison said improved modelling of floodplain zones meant greater opportunities for development in areas previously considered unsuitable.
He said limited developer opportunities meant land was at a premium.
“It is fair to say there is infrastructure around the floodplains which is already in place so instead of having to build further away and create it, the amenities are already there,” he said.
“There is only so much land left on the Gold Coast to build on and some of this on the floodplains.
“It is about how (developers) address the requirements of council.”
The latest development planned for the end of the green heart zone is the Sage apartments, the first stage of which is already under construction on Merrimac’s Bourton Road.
A development application was filed this month by the Myall Group for a further 113 units and townhouses.
The City Plan allows limited development for much of the Merrimac and Robina area surrounding All Saints Anglican School on Highfield Drive.
Demolition work is underway of houses along Highfields Drive which border the school.
A new boarding house expected to be built.
These projects will join the Walker Corporation’s already is announced Breakwater development. City planning boss Cr Cameron Caldwell said the high quality of existing infrastructure made the area an “attractive proposition” for developers.
“With optimism in the Gold Coast economy we are now seeing interest in large sites in and around the centres,” he said.