Strong support for Vasse project

The marketing of Vasse Newtown, 15 kilometres south-west of Busselton, has been a remunerative and invigorating experience for Geoff Hanson of Subiaco-based Hanson Property Marketing and Management.

Mr Hanson has so far had three residential releases; the first two in November when 76 and 52 lots were offered and promptly sold, and another in May that offered 145 lots.

“Stage 1A’s 76 lots sold out within four hours while Stage 1B’s 52 lots were fully committed by deposit payment within a further three hours,” Mr Hanson said.

The 145 lots in Stage 2 sold in five hours at prices from $100,000 to $200,000.

Billed as “A town for tomorrow, today”, when completed by 2013 the $750 million, 400-hectare project will house 5,000 residents on 1,750 homesites.

Vasse Newtown is being designed to incorporate four schools and will have provision for university sites, a hospital and several health facilities, parks and sporting and recreational arenas.

Developer Saracen Properties envisages 300 retail and business premises.

Vasse Newtown’s centrepiece will be a man-made lake, meaning it will also offer an East Perth Claisebrook village inlet-style environment.

Engineers BSD Consultants (now Cardno BSD), which have operated for more than 20 years from Perth and Busselton, are planning the town.

And last month the strong sales continued, with 45 light industrial lots in Vasse Newtown Industrial Park selling by mail-out.

Mr Hanson disposed of these through a targeted selling strategy.

He wrote to 100 prospective buyers enclosing sub-division plans and price schedule, and giving 30 days to buy before the balance of the land was released to the general public.

Letters were mailed on a Thursday afternoon, and by midday the next Monday all but five of the 45 lots were bought by local businesses and tradespeople.

Vasse Newtown is two kilometres from the shoreline of Geographe Bay and is envisaged as a dormitory town for the Margaret River and Busselton regions, offering a range of educational, business and health opportunities and a choice of lot sizes and housing alternatives.

Luke Saraceni of Saracen Properties acquired the Vasse site from Kim Slatyer and associates, who envisaged in the 1990s a futuristic science and technology-based town but failed to bring their vision to fruition.

Mr Slatyer’s partners were New Zealander Leon Ivory and Tony Barton, formerly of Hartley Poynton.

Mr Ivory had a background in the biomedical industry.