Lennox Head property: More residential land unveiled at Epiq estate

A developer behind a major North Coast estate says his team is ready to expand with more blocks of land for an eager market.

Millions of dollars in new residential land could be unlocked if a development application passes through Ballina Shire Council.

Clarence Property, the developer behind the Epiq estate in Lennox Head, is looking to unlock another parcel of land for housing within the approved development.

Planning firm Newton Denny Chapelle lodged the subdivision application on behalf of the developer on Tuesday.

It is seeking to create 14 new residential lots on a parcel of land bordered by Anchorage Avenue, Outrigger Road and Snapper Drive – adjacent to the Epiq shopping centre.

Clarence Property managing director Peter Fahey said his team had considered an apartment development on the parcel, which was made up of three lots.

But he said they changed tack based on demand.

“There’s more demand for house lots and some of those could take a duplex,” Mr Fahey said.

“It was just easier to … sell those and people can build their own home or their duplex on there.

“That just keeps the whole place moving.”

Mr Fahey said the Woolworths across the road was “trading extremely well”.

“It only improves as more of those houses get finished and people start to live there,” he said.

“The more people go there, the more services that can be provided.”

He said progress was meanwhile “fairly advanced” on Stage 7 on the western side of the Epiq estate.

That stage, now under construction, will involve 33 housing lots, 28 live-work facilities and 8000m2 of commercial land.

It’s likely the company will cash in big time.

A 617m2 block of land on Habitat Way sold for $1 million on Christmas Eve last year.

A larger 963m2 block on Brolga Place sold for $850,000 about a year earlier.

In September 2020, a huge 3167m2 parcel went for $1.8 million.

Back in 2018, a previous release of Epiq resulted in a 600m2 block going for just $399,000.

The development was known as the Pacific Pines Estate when it was approved in 2008 before it was later rebranded to Epiq.

Planning documents say the site is “heavily disturbed” and native vegetation had been “historically modified by clearing, disturbance and grazing”.

Documents state there would therefore be minimal ecological impacts of the subdivision.

Lot sizes are expected to range between 450m2 and about 675m2.

Four of the lots have been “designed to cater for dual occupancy housing”.

“The clear majority of the proposed lots contain a north-south or east-west orientation thereby providing improved opportunities for passive solar design for future housing,” the report said.

About $365,000 worth of works would take place if the subdivision was approved.

Epiq is also set to include future releases of more commercial land, which on the concept plan included space for a tavern and more shots, as well as a 110-townhouse precinct, subject to development applications.

Mr Fahey said demand had been firm since the estate’s first release.

“The market’s been strong the whole time,” he said.

“Almost the first half of the estate we sold to local people.”

Other buyers haven’t been from far afield, though; many have been from the neighbouring Ballina and Byron Bay communities.

He said there was similar interest in other Clarence Property projects in Tweed Heads, Brunswick Heads and Yamba.

The company also has plans for a Coffs Harbour development in the works, although Mr Fahey said that’s likely a few years away.

“We’re not trying to change the character of anything,” he said.

“Where there’s local demand, we just try and satisfy it.”