Sydney-based developer and builder Aland has broken ground on its $375-million twin-tower apartment and hotel complex on the NSW Central Coast.
Ground works have begun on the 5656sq m parcel which will house the two, 28-storey towers to be known as The Archibald, after Archibald Acheson, the second Earl of Gosford.
When finished the two buildings will have 323 apartments, 130 hotel rooms, multiple food and beverage outlets, a 2060-sq-m pub and a skybar and lounge.
The developer acquired the property on the corner of Donnison and Mann streets in June of 2022, paying a reported $35.2 million for the seven lots and approved development plans.
Five months ago the Central Coast Council approved changes to the plans which now comprise 37 less hotel rooms.
Aland chief executive George Tadrosse said Gosford has been waiting several years for the site—cleared after an initial development approval in 2019—to be transformed.
“This is a huge opportunity to create a legacy for the city and make the most of this outstanding location,” he said.
“The strong level of interest to date is testament to the demand for a premium lifestyle community. Now the project is coming out of the ground we expect that interest to increase.”
About 30 per cent of the mix of one, two, three and four-bedroom apartments has been sold. Fifty-eight square-metre, single bedroom apartments start at $450,000 and four-bedroom homes from $1.3 million. Aland is not releasing the price of the 280-sq-m penthouses.
Highland Project sales director Georgia Scanlon said despite successive rate rises and a change in Australia’s property market conditions in the past 12 months, buyers were active in high growth sea change areas such as the Central Coast.
Lifestyle, affordability and proximity to the city underpinned long-term growth, she said.
“Gosford has had a shortage of high-quality new projects in recent years. A luxury development such as Archibald has appealed to Sydneysiders as well as investors seeking an easily accessible getaway option just under an hour’s drive from the city.”
With frontages on Mann, Donnison and Baker streets, the property is in the heart of the fast-growing central coast city.
Throughout Covid, Gosford continued to attract people from Sydney seeking cheaper housing and that’s bolstered planned development, both in the city of about 178,000, as well as Newcastle, about 90km north.
The project is scheduled for completion by the end of 2024.
