Developer Massimo Guida’s plans for new $9.6m residential project as Wynnum boom continues

Meet the developer who has declared a once-sleepy bayside suburb the next “place to be’’ as he starts work on another major project in the area.

He’s declared it as Brisbane’s “place to be” and now this developer is ready to bring his third significant residential project to what used to be the city’s best kept secret.

Massimo Guida will start construction on a $9.6 million unit project at 8-12 Emsworth St in Wynnum, just four years after finishing two similar developments worth more than $5 million on Besham Pde.

Featuring 32 units across four floors, the building will also include a rooftop green area, focused on renewable energy, with a barbecue terrace.

Developer Massimo Guida believes Brisbane's bayside is the place to be.

The 41-year-old, who has been responsible for development across Brisbane and also in Bundaberg, bought the Emsworth St block in 2008 for just $600,000 but said now was the perfect time to start the project.

“We had always earmarked Wynnum and the bayside as an area we wanted to develop in, but it just took some time to come along,’’ Mr Guida said.

“Over the last two or three years, it’s exploded.”

Plans for the residential project at 8-12 Emsworth St, Wynnum.

“We did a development at 11 Besham Pde, which finished in 2016, and then 15 Besham Pde, which was finished in 2017.

“Neither of those sold well off the plan or when it was completed, but obviously they sold very quickly a bit later on.

“So we had to endure some tough times, but now this area is going crazy so I won’t even sell these once it’s completed.

“We’ll just put them up for rent because the vacancy rates are so low at the moment.”

An existing house at 12 Emsworth St was demolished in 2019 and a house at 8 Emsworth St will be bulldozed when construction starts in February.

Aerial view of the project.

Mr Guida said he expected the building to be completed by the end of 2022.

The New Farm resident also runs a successful electrical business and was working in a fruit shop from the age of 12. He started buying houses and land when he was 18.

And his developments on the bayside won’t stop with Emsworth St.

Mr Guida also has his eyes on a block on the Wynnum waterfront which he has big plans for in the near future.

“The bayside is the place to be,” he said.

“I know it has the same name, but Wynnum and Manly should be exactly like Sydney’s Manly with its proximity to the city and bayside living, where you’re on the water without having to go to the Gold or Sunshine Coast.

Developer Massimo Guida and his team.

“The demographic has drastically changed to more younger families in recent years, which has changed everything as far as development go.

“The only thing it needs is a faster rail line to the city and it will go forward even more.”

Wynnum Councillor, Peter Cumming, said the new project continued to show the confidence developers had in the area.

“Sometimes after such a boom like Wynnum has had recently, you can have two or three years where it stalls, but developments like this show people continue to have a lot of confidence in the area,” he said.