COOMERA SITE ON OFFER

THE long-time Japanese owner of a major Coomera development site quietly has offered it to selected buyers more than a year after the federal government crimped its development plans.

Offers for the 161ha parcel, approved for more than 4000 homes, were due to land with owner Hokojitsugyo this week.

Last year the federal Environment Minister ruled that development of the land would have meant the destruction of 135ha of koala habitat.

An appeal by Hokojitsugyo arm Polaris was rejected.

A property industry consultant, who did not wish to be named, yesterday said it was feasible that the whole site could be developed if a buyer and the government agreed on an ‘offset’.

“That would mean providing habitat land elsewhere, perhaps as much as 400ha.

“It would come as a surprise to locals if a buyer was able to do that and much of the site was cleared – most people in the area think the land is a reserve.”

The parcel is part of a larger holding accumulated by Hokojitsugyo more than 30 years ago at a cost of $70 million and earmarked for an estate called Coomera Woods.

The area being sold has been tagged Coomera Quarter and carries development approvals that go back as far as 2009. It is on the doorstep of the Coomera train station and the Westfield Coomera Town Centre and has the major Meadows estate on its northern boundary.

A new satellite hospital is planned on a southern boundary of the land.

David Ransom, of Zone Planning, last year said the northern growth corridor faced a critical shortage of greenfield land if the Polaris site was not developed.

“A reduced land supply can only increase the price of land further and make it less affordable for first-home buyers and families.”