HIGH TIMES AHEAD FOR NERANG TOWERS

GEOFF Burchill, a veteran visionary in the Gold Coast property industry, hopes to have Nerang’s first high-rise apartments on the market in early 2022.

The 80-year-old has succeeded in getting an extension to a development approval granted in 2016 for four towers from seven to 12 levels on land his family has owned on the Nerang riverfront for 39 years.

The 2.6ha holding, accessed off Eden Court in Nerang East, abuts former private golf course The Villa.

The $110 million project will deliver 170 apartments with river and park views.

Mr Burchill, a structural engineer, previously has forecast that the towers would bring new vitality to Nerang.

He said on Wednesday that objections to the planned towers had been overcome and he was setting out to gain a funding or development partner.

An advisory team of experts has been assembled including Mark Grierson, of the Cardno group, Steve Marais, of Condev Constructions, and residential researcher Michael Matusik.

“Our team will make our project a model for the mandatory downsizing in future higher-density housing projects,’’ he said. “We’ll offer security, privacy, and a community lifestyle for a discerning niche in the 5.5 million-strong baby-boomer demographic looking for active and healthy living for 10 to 15 years or more ahead.”

Mr Burchill said he expected to have the project shovel-ready for the return of an expected investment boom in 2022.

He started a Gold Coast structural engineering consultancy business in 1966 that later evolved into Burchill Partners. He was instrumental in laying the groundwork for projects such as Sanctuary Cove, the Hope Island Resort and River Links at Oxenford.