Developers’ $10m bid to address severe housing shortage

Developers are looking to spend $10 million building small units in Tewantin along with commercial tenancies.

This commercial and affordable residential development is being assessed by Noosa Council.

Tewantin CBD could soon be home to a $10 million two-storey commercial and residential centre offering affordable unit living on Doonella St.

The developer, Doonella Street Pty Ltd, is headed by directors Dr Ali Araghi and Chris Wright.

They want to build 19 small units in Doonella St alongside commercial tenancies in an attempt to help address Noosa's severe housing shortage.

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They also want to include a food and drink outlet, office space and health care services.

 

An artist's impression of the proposed new development in Tewantin.

"We're actually really excited at getting to a point where we feel like we have a viable development that actually meets the community needs," Mr Wright said.

He said his company had reduced a 762sq m commercial floorspace from a previous approval to 188sq m due to a lack of demand in the area.

"We're already oversupplied in Tewantin (for commercial space)," he said.

"We've scaled down the sizes, we think that might be more appealing.

"We've had interest from hairdressers and cafes and things, but in reality it's more likely to be a couple of little offices with maybe a healthcare provider."

He said they also had interest from community housing providers for the affordable unit component which included potential for a couple of units designed for disability support.

The right two vacant green blocks are the site for the proposed Tewantin commercial/residential development.

"Specialist disability accommodation is definitely hot right now," Mr Wright said.

His development application, currently before Noosa Council, said the accommodation had been specifically designed to address an identified need for smaller, affordable, residential dwellings within the Noosa area.

"The proposed residential dwellings all comply with the council's definition of small dwellings as they have a floor area of less than 100sq m," Mr Sheppard said.

"The development also provides four commercial tenancies that will add to the vibrancy and vitality of the Tewantin district centre," he said.

The council first approved 16 units on the site in 2016 after deciding the small units proposed in the application had good access to urban services.

"When approving the application, council accepted that it would result in a change to the streetscape and surrounding properties but considered that it was acceptable given that it presented as three separate buildings from the street," the application read.

"A number of conditions were included in the decision notice that required the materials and form of these buildings to satisfactorily integrate with the surrounding area."

After this approval lapsed, development approval was given in 2017 for 10 units, commercial space and medical as mixed commercial/residential uses.

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