Henzell Property Group lodges development application for $95m Caloundra residential, retail precinct

Developers behind a “game changing” $95m residential and retail precinct have gone against a design requirement but they say it provides a better outcome.

Henzell Property Group has lodged a development application for Verre Caloundra, a two-tower unit complex with a high-end dining precinct at the Caloundra CBD.

Plans detailing a “game changing” $95m apartment complex raised questions over what Sunshine Coast Council considered was a “tower”.

Henzell Property Group lodged a development application for a major mixed-use development on a 6000sq m site at the Caloundra CBD.

The development of the Bulcock Street and Omrah Avenue blocks would include two residential towers, a high-end dining precinct and five-storey retail and medical centre.

Sunshine Coast Council set key design requirements for the master planned site including that it would feature no more than two towers to avoid “walls of development”.

Documents show Verre Caloundra would feature three buildings - two “slender” nine-storey residential towers and the five-storey commercial building.

It said if a five-storey building was considered a tower the plans would not be in line with planning requirements.

Henzell Property Group has lodged a development application for Verre Caloundra, a two-tower unit complex with a high-end dining precinct at the Caloundra CBD.

But director Mclean Henzell said having the three buildings provided a better outcome overall for Caloundra.

“The requirement for two towers was going to be a really poor outcome with one tower on Bulcock Street and one tower on Omrah Avenue,” he said.

“The tower on Bulcock Street would have been extremely wide providing limited visibility through to Omrah Avenue.

“We’ve instead broken up the Bulcock Street frontage into two towers which provides the opportunity to have a really unique and activated laneway between the two roads.”

Henzell Property Group sales manager Marcus Muir and managing director McLean Henzell.

Another requirement was for a five metre-wide pedestrian access from Bulcock Street to Omrah Avenue.

Mr Henzell said having three buildings allowed them to have a wider 13 metre laneway which would also feature a restaurant and cafe.

“I’m extremely passionate about Caloundra and want to create a dining precinct like nothing else we have on the southern end of the coast,” Mr Henzell said.

The project will be delivered across three stages with the first being a 39-strong apartment complex, restaurant, and cafe worth $50m.

The second stage will be an apartment tower similar to the first while the third stage will be office space for medical or professional businesses.

Prices of the 39 apartments will start from $799,000 while six luxury penthouses will start from $2.1m.

Construction on the first stage is set to start by May 2022.

Originally published as Henzell Property Group lodges development application for $95m Caloundra residential, retail precinct