Smiths Beach land up for grabs

The contentious development of Smiths Beach near Yallingup has taken another twist, with the owners of the 40.5 hectare site putting the land on the market.

The Smiths Beach site will be sold via an expressions of interest campaign, being run by commercial property agents Jones Lang LaSalle.

Jones Lang La Salle WA director of sales and investments, Phil Fogliani, said he expected the property to command the attention of a broad cross section of developers and private investors.

Formal subdivision approval is at an advanced stage of negotiation with the WA Planning Commission, Mr Fogliani said.

“Current plans include a high-star, 3.34ha beach club style resort covering the lower portion of the property with the tourist lost and residential component occupying the most elevated portion of the site,” he said.

The owners of the site, Canal Rocks Pty Ltd, were originally seeking to develop up to 272 tourist units, 104 residential homes and 1,700 square meters of commercial space, before that plan was knocked back by the Environmental Protection Authority in 2009.

Then-Environment Minister Donna Faragher gave a scaled back development the green light in March 2010.

The revised plan called for 8.9 hectares of resort development, with residential subdivision not exceeding 3.8ha.

The original plan proposed 14.9ha of tourist development with 6.4ha residential.