The proposed $24 million holiday resort comprising 72 dwellings on the beachfront at Mackay’s Blacks Beach is set to commence construction in August, according to Trinity Consolidated.
The project will be undertaken by developer Consolidated Properties has built a considerable reputation in North Queensland as the founder of the Bluewater residential estate north of Cairns.
Consolidated Properties managing director Don O’Rorke said the Blacks Beach project would be constructed on a prime 2.274 hectare site with direct beach frontage.
Full ownership of Consolidated Properties is being acquired by listed property group Trinity Consolidated in a $25.35 million scrip for scrip merger announced recently.
Significantly, the Blacks Beach project will provide an additional project earmarked for Trinity Consolidated’s new specialist development vehicle, to be called the Consolidated Development Trust.
The Blacks Beach parcel, located around 15 kilometres north of Mackay’s city heart, is being acquired from a private owner for $4.5 million, with settlement due in August.
“The resort is subject to Mackay City Council approval but is proposed to incorporate many of the innovative design features we developed in our Domain Stradbroke Resort project on North Stradbroke Island, just off the Brisbane coastline,” O’Rorke added.
The 42 beach shacks within this Stradbroke project sold out within two hours of their public release and O’Rorke predicted a similar level of pent-up demand for the Blacks Beach product.
“The Blacks Beach dwellings within our resort will be a modern, distinctively tropical Queensland interpretation of the ‘beach shack’ and are being designed by award winning Townsville architects, Tippett Schrock,” he said.
“As we did with our Stradbroke project, we intend to offer Blacks Beach to the local market first, ensuring that people in Mackay and surrounding areas have the best opportunity to purchase.”
The Blacks Beach project will be operated by the Domain Resorts management chain, created jointly last year by Consolidated Properties and Multiplex.
The Resort will comprise 23, one-bedroom dwellings and 49, two-bedroom units designed specifically to cater for short term holidays and priced from $285,000 up to $435,000.
According to recent research from the Real Estate Institute of Queensland, Mackay topped the state in terms of annual house price growth in 2005 after recording a 34.8 per cent rise in the median house price.
This activity has continued in the first quarter of 2006 with the median house price in Mackay rising by $14,000, the REIQ reported.
Trinity Consolidated chief executive Ben McCarthy said the Blacks Beach resort would provide a strong project for the newly formed CDT.
“The unlisted CDT will be managed by Trinity and is being created to provide sophisticated investors with a clearly defined high-return, high-risk vehicle,” he concluded.
By Nelson Yap
