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Construction activity on the Gold Coast has been given a $1.5 billion boost from Western Australian company Perron Group as it begins construction of a new suburb in the city's west.
The SkyRidge project, formerly known as Pacific View estate, has been 15 years in the making on one of the last major central Gold Coast landholdings suitable for residential development.
It is estimated the development will take another 15 years to be fully completed by the Perron Group in partnership with Gold Coast investor Ross Atkins, as the 342-hectare site at Worongary once used for grazing cattle is transformed into a master-planned community comprising 3600 dwellings, retail and commercial precincts, a new school and 75 hectares of landscaped recreational parklands and conservation areas.
The announcement by Perron Group, founded by the late billionaire Stan Perron, comes as the Gold Coast suffers from a lack of greenfield development sites for housing and one of its tightest residential vacancy rates in years, driven by a flood of interstate and intrastate migration.
Key suburbs are well below 1 per cent vacancy with some as low as 0.3 per cent, according to figures from the REIQ.
The news also follows an announcement this week from developer Sunland Group (ASX: SDG) that it is progressing the next stage of its own $1.3 billion mini-city in the heart of Mermaid Waters, with approvals to start to construction of an $82 million The Lanes retail and lifestyle centre within the master-planned community known as The Lakes.
Perron Group has worked to deliver SkyRidge to the market since it bought the Worongary site in 2006. Master-plan approval was granted by the Queensland Government in 2015.
The development has faced a series of setbacks including local opposition to a project of this scale being located in what has long been considered a rural heartland.
Perron Group general manager of land development, Lyle Kenny, says the timing of the project will deliver a much-needed boost to the local economy.
"There is presently a short supply of suitably zoned land within the city to develop a community of this size and scope." Kenny says.
"It is a major vote of confidence in the Gold Coast market in these uncertain times."
The first three stages of the development have been approved by Gold Coast City Council with the initial six stages comprising over 320 home sites, including 5 hectares reserved for a future education precinct.
The first land sales are expected by mid-2021 once housing sites are completed and registered.
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