Coolbellup plan approved

A $60 million apartment development in Coolbellup with a strong Fremantle football connection has received the green light.

Former Fremantle Dockers footballers Matthew Carr, Josh Carr and Brad Dodd, and former East Fremantle footballer and hotelier Tony Buhagiar have received development approval for a 150-apartment development on the 1.5-hectare site.

The apartments are to be set out in four buildings standing four and five storeys with parking alongside each.

Designed by architects Zuideveld Marchant and Hur, the residential project is one of several being planned for Coolbellup, with LandCorp and Lend Lease developing three housing lots.

The company behind the development, The Cooby Hotel Pty Ltd, enlisted Development Planning Strategies to help create the apartment proposal, which was first submitted to the City of Cockburn in December 2012.

The apartment project’s construction will involve the demolition of The Coolbellup Hotel, but the nearby Thirsty Camel liquor store, owned by the developers, will remain.

Matt Carr said the development would contribute positively to a transition that was already occurring in the suburb.

“I think it’s going to be huge, mainly because if you track the Cooby hotel history it hasn’t been great for the area and what (this development) does is it brings in a lot of people into the area … right now I think it’s going through a regeneration,” he said.

“What we’ve seen is a huge change in demographic over the last seven years since we bought (the Thirsty Camel).

“If you look at the selling rate of the suburb it’s one of the top three selling suburbs in terms of days on the market for property in WA.”

City of Cockburn Mayor Logan Howlett said the apartment development met council criteria for increasing housing options and the suburb would welcome a new cafe.

“This is the first step in the much-needed renewal of the town centre and will complement future revitalisation work and support the growth of the local community,” Mr Howlett told Business News.

Mr Howlett said the work LandCorp had been doing with developer Lend Lease in Coolbellup to bring new housing lots to the market would also provide new facilities in line with canvassed community desires.

Lend Lease and LandCorp have been redeveloping three former school sites to provide a total of 146 houses and 45 townhouses.

The Primary, with 58 housing lots and two grouped housing sites (to be developed as townhouses by Nicheliving), is the most advanced of these sites, having sold out in late 2012.

Development at The Primary, on the site of the former North Lake primary school, will begin mid next year before work starts on the second project, on the former Koorilla primary school site.

Mr Carr said he had narrowed his choice of builders down to two and expected to award the $40 million apartment development construction contract before Christmas.

Construction could start as early as May next year with an estimated completion date 69 weeks later.

Agents will begin selling off the plan by the end of January 2014, starting at $345,000 for one-bedroom apartments.

In addition to the residential apartments, which make up the majority of the development, there will also be 10 commercial units fronting Coolbellup’s main street.

The commercial units will be leased to a mix of shops and offices as well as a restaurant with seating for up to 80 people, including alfresco.

Mr Carr said he was in discussions with a prominent local franchise to lease the restaurant.