Cairns real estate: Bulldozers roll in at surprise Kewarra Beach development

Bulldozers have rolled in to clear oceanfront bushland at a prime northern beaches site in Cairns as work begins on a new development.

BULLDOZERS have rolled into a prime beachfront patch of land as Cairns property tycoon Alex Sekler gets moving on a new development.

The construction site at 2-4 Poolwood Rd at Kewarra Beach is just up the road from Mr Sekler’s palatial mansion at 46-48 Kewarra St – the distinctive yellow sprawling home behind high walls has just been painted white and is on the market, expected to fetch about $12m

Mr Sekler and wife Violetta recently forked out $17.1 million for a 4ha estate on the Sunshine Coast.

The Hamptons-style property known as Malumba Estate is at Buderim and it has development approval for a five-star resort and spa.

The sale set a record for property on the Sunshine Coast.

A total of 10 housing lots are being created on Kewarra St, on the corner of Poolwood Rd, at Kewarra Beach, by Liral Investments. Bushland has been bulldozed to make way for the development. Picture: Bronwyn Farr.

The developer at Poolwood Rd is Liral Investments, whose directors are Mr Sekler and Stephen Rayner.

They have approval for 10 lots ranging in size from 1083sq m to a giant 6949sq m for a beachfront parcel. The land is at the corner of Poolwood Rd and Kewarra St and had a track through it to the beach.

It is the only land at Kewarra Beach that is absolute beachfront, as Pelican Park reserve with its walkway sits between other properties on Kewarra St and the water.

As Covid emerged last March, Mr and Mrs Sekler donated $650,000 to the Far North Queensland Hospital Foundation, for medical equipment.

The development application for the Poolwood Rd project was lodged as far back as 2009 and revived in 2017 – but it is only now that Liral Investments has made a move.

At the other end of Kewarra St, Melbourne-based Kewarra Lifestyles Pty Ltd has 28 retirement villas at Kewarra Beach Resort and it is seeking to build a further 43 units on an adjacent 15.6ha block of bushland it owns. Work on John Richardson’s Deep Creek Estate between Clifton Beach and Kewarra Beach continues with 77 blocks in stage one – there will be 206 lots in all.

Originally published as Cairns real estate: Bulldozers roll in at surprise Kewarra Beach development