Construction of massive lifestyle village set to begin in October
Construction on the first homes in a $360m lifestyle resort involving 505 dwellings in Rockhampton is just weeks away.
Construction on the first homes in a $360m lifestyle resort involving 505 dwellings at Parkhurst is set to start in October.
Family-owned Living Gems, one of Queensland’s longest-established over-50s developers, is behind the huge project on a 27ha site that includes the former Parkhurst Golf Driving Range and Mini Golf.
The development was originally approved as a 353-home project in 2024 but was increased to 505 dwellings this year with council agreeing to the changes in July following the acquisition of two additional blocks of land.
The lifestyle resort will feature low maintenance homes, each with two bedrooms, two bathrooms plus a multipurpose room, alongside more than $23m of lifestyle amenities spanning 3,800 sqm.
These include an architect-designed Country Club, a Summer House, and sports and lifestyle precincts.
Facilities include resort-style pools, a bowling alley, yoga space, residents’ workshop, golf simulator, dog run, tennis and pickleball courts, an undercover lawn bowls green and RV parking.
Newly appointed Living Gems CEO Anthony Puljich said demand for over-50s living in the Rockhampton region was high and this project would help reduce the pressure on a critically undersupplied housing market pressured by low supply and strong population growth, driven by a $12 billion pipeline of projects underway and planned in the Central Qld region.
“More than 34 per cent of Rockhampton’s population is over 50, with many still living in large properties due to the shortage of low maintenance, secure options such as this,” he said.
Stage One involves 11 dwelling sites and Stage Two has 494 dwelling sites with three typical home designs to be used throughout the development.
All dwellings will present internal to the site with the main vehicular access from Norman Road and two secondary access points from McMillan Ave (south) into the recreation vehicle parking and McMillan Ave (east).
Further east is land zoned as Emerging Community and the privately owned Rivendel Botanic Gardens.
A total of 320 carparking spaces will be provided on-site. This will include 215 visitor carparking spaces and 105 recreational vehicle parking spaces.
Additionally, each house will be provided with two carparking spaces with at least one space covered.
The secondary facilities (lifestyle pavilion, sports precinct and summer house) must be provided when the following dwelling sites are delivered:
- Summer House – prior to the 120th dwelling site being delivered;
- Sports Precinct – prior to the 300th dwelling site being delivered; and
- Lifestyle Pavilion – prior to the 450th dwelling site being delivered.
A council report said the developer had requested a temporary internal access point for the Stage One
dwelling sites.
“This change reflects the need for immediate access arrangements for the dwelling sites rather than the early construction of major internal roads,” the report said.
The approved time period for Stage One is six years and Stage Two is fifteen years.
Council found that assessment of the development against the relevant zone purpose, planning scheme codes and planning scheme policies demonstrates that the proposed development will not cause significant adverse impacts on the surrounding natural environment, built environment and infrastructure, community facilities, or local character and amenity.
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