New Scarborough plan a boon for developers

Developers are keen to take advantage of new planning guidelines at Scarborough Beach, with the state government-backed $57.5 million revitalisation designed to encourage hundreds of millions of dollars worth of private sector investment.

The fresh vision for Scarborough Beach, released for public comment last week, will allow for the development of about 2,800 apartments and townhouses close to the foreshore area and surrounding streets.

In certain precincts, the guidelines allow for buildings to be developed up to 12 storeys, while there is also the capacity for them to rise to 18 storeys providing they meet certain guidelines.

The plan, which the Metropolitan Redevelopment Authority built on a previous strategy for the area in collaboration with place-making firm Place Match, also calls for a significant hospitality precinct close to the beachfront, which will provide substantial opportunities for cafe, bar and restaurant operators.

One developer already advancing plans for a significant residential project in the redevelopment area is Psaros, which hopes to build a $75 million, eight-storey, 102-apartment project on the corner of Brighton Road and Hastings Street.

Psaros managing director Mike Enslin said the company was aiming, pending planning approval of the project, to begin marketing in the next few months.

“We were attracted to that development with the knowledge that something was going to happen, so now that it’s happened it’s very exciting,” Mr Enslin told Business News.

“It will be easy to sell there once everything’s done, but once the redevelopment of that foreshore happens, that gets priced into everything.

“But it really gives the opportunity to sell that beach lifestyle.”

Closer to the beach, Diploma Group is also advancing plans to develop a $35 million, nine-storey project on the corner of Brighton Road and West Coast Highway, comprising 56 apartments.

Diploma Group managing director Nick Di Latte said the company would lodge its development application within the next four weeks with a view to starting construction, if approved, by the middle of the year.

Mr Di Latte said Diploma was also in discussions with a number of other landowners in the area regarding similar developments but was not able to comment further, while at the same time he lauded the state government’s vision for the precinct.

“It’s definitely positive for the area and Scarborough as a whole, and it’s what’s needed to really get that area activated and moving forward,” he said.

However, it remains to be see in the beachfront revitalisation will be enough to breathe life into a three-tower proposal by Singapore’s Chip Eng Seng Corporation at the White Sands Tavern site, which stalled in 2011 after three months of advertising produced little response from prospective buyers.