Gold Coast development: Billions of dollars of projects in pipeline despite downturn

Work is set to begin on a giant $1 billion development more than 25 years in the making as one of Australia’s richest men says the days of affordable land on Gold Coast are ‘finished’.

ONE of the Gold Coast’s richest developers is offering the city a way forward as it runs out of space for new housing, revealing he is preparing to break ground on two huge Tweed projects 25 years in the making.

Billionaire Leda boss Bob Ell says he will finally proceed with construction of his $1 billion Cobaki Lakes and Kings Forest projects just across the NSW border, with the first sod to be turned within 24 months.

Bob Ell.

In a rare interview Mr Ell says the time is right to proceed with the Tweed projects after gaining nearly all the necessary approvals on the back of a slowdown in the Gold Coast market.

“The current population of the Gold Coasts is over 606,000 people with a growth rate of 2.3 per cent that has exceeded the rest of the southeast since 2007,’’ he said.

“This growth and economic boom have been based on the ability to provide affordable housing creating thousands of local jobs.

The Cobaki Lakes land

FULL LIST: COAST’S $14B OF DEVELOPMENT IN THE PIPELINE

“Last year the amount of approved lots on the Gold Coast dropped like a stone and with a 71 per cent drop in approved residential lots to just over 550 last (financial) year the builders and developers are struggling to find sites and keep up to the demand.

“The Gold Coast is finished when it comes to finding affordable land. I have been developing for nearly 40 years and it has never been this tough. I have builders calling me every day asking if we have any stock they need to keep the tradies and staff going or they are done.”

Cobaki Lakes has been in the planning stages for 25 years.

Mr Ell, who divides his time between the Gold Coast and Sydney, bought the 605.4ha Cobaki property southwest of Gold Coast Airport in 1994 and has long attempted to make the housing estates a reality.

Kings Forest is expected to be home to 4500 properties while Cobaki Lakes will become a 5500-home masterplanned community. Mr Ell said the projects would provide a much-needed boost to the economy.

The Kings Forest development.

“The much-needed supply will be required to give the economies of the Gold Coast and Tweed a much-needed boost and alternative to the cyclical tourism and service industries.”

The news comes after the Bulletin this week revealed 18,000 of the Coast’s 35,000 tradies were forced to find work elsewhere last year.

Many out-of-work builders have taken jobs in Brisbane and Victoria.

This came just months after a Bulletin report showed the number of development applications fell 13.4 per cent in the first quarter of this financial year, compared to the corresponding three-month period last year.

Plumbing applications fell 69.5 per cent last year.

The number of applications being turned into bricks and mortar, with plumbing applications declined 69.5 per cent. Plumbing applications are made by developers as an immediate precursor to construction beginning on their project and are seen as a bellwether for the strength of the building industry. This slowdown has been blamed on the fallout from last year’s banking royal commission and the federal election.

It has sparked calls from the Queensland Master Builders for the Gold Coast City Council to reintroduce its “Construction Kickstart” incentive scheme, which slashed infrastructure charges for “shovel-ready” projects.

Gold Cost Mayor Tom Tate. Picture Glenn Hampson.

The 2013-14 scheme fuelled a 20 per cent spike in development applications, and a 111 per cent increase in residential projects, injecting more than $885 million into the economy.

The scheme involved the slashing of council infrastructure charges by 50 per cent for all projects that began construction within six months of approval.

Mayor Tom Tate has fallen short of promising a return of incentives but said his door was open to development figures hoping to discuss their concerns.