Scarborough site to tempt developers

Agents expect the new planning guidelines for Scarborough to lead to a steady stream of development opportunities.

Landowners are starting to take advantage of new planning guidelines in Scarborough, with an amalgamated 3,000 square metre development site recently coming to market.

The Metropolitan Redevelopment Authority released its $57.4 million vision for the beachside suburb in January, allowing developments of up to 18 storeys in certain precincts, provided they meet certain guidelines.

The plan is to allow for the development of 2,800 apartments and townhouses around the popular Scarborough Beach, while also developing a new hospitality and entertainment precinct near the beachfront.

One of the first development sites to come to market following the release of the new guidelines, at 22-24 Brighton Road, has just been listed for sale by LJ Hooker Commercial. The plot is in an area the guidelines allocate for mixed-use developments of up to 12 storeys.

LJ Hooker Commercial principal Vincent Siciliano told Business News the plot was the largest site currently on the market, being an amalgamation of two large single house lots, which he was able to negotiate through two related parties.

Mr Siciliano, who also brokered the sale of the Ocean Plaza site on Scarborough Beach Road to the Chinese group behind the purchase and rebranding of Palandri Wines to 3 Oceans Wine Company, said the block was in close proximity to where Diploma Group and Psaros, respectively, are advancing plans for significant apartment projects, as reported earlier this year by Business News.

However, despite the certainty provided by the MRA’s plan, Mr Siciliano said he was not expecting a flood of opportunity for developers to hit the market.

“When you look at the area the MRA have taken up, while it’s a large area, a lot of what they have included are existing strata-titled complexes,” he said.

“It’s going to take someone a bit of effort and time to buy those individual units and then to coordinate something.

“So while looking at the plan it would seem to be a large area, not everyone is going to be in a position to be able to say ‘my site can go’ yet.

“It will be a development area for years to come, but I don’t really think we’ll see a massive amount of activity overnight.”

Mr Siciliano said the site LJ Hooker was marketing was already garnering significant interest from local and international developers, despite only having been advertised for sale last week.

Scarborough is also popular among home buyers, with 488 house, apartment and land transactions in the year to December 2014, according to the Real Estate Institute of WA, making it top among the surrounding suburbs.