A homegrown developer has taken over and downsized plans for a Palm Beach apartment block.
Miami-based Ignite Developments, under its PBGC Pty Ltd vehicle, has taken over the project after a Sydney developer faced obstacles, with neighbours rejecting a larger 13-storey project put forward.
Ignite’s new plans for 1177-1181 Gold Coast Highway and 192 Jefferson Lane are 14.8m smaller than the first iteration, which was approved by the City of Gold Coast Council.
However, the approval for the previous project was appealed via a submitter appeal and ultimately overturned, and the former developer opted to withdraw the application and sell the holding, having lost the sales contract over one of the lots.
According to the current development application now with the City of Gold Coast Council, it will deliver 36 units with two levels of basement parking and a ground level communal area with a pool and sauna.
The apartments, designed by Plus Architecture, will predominantly be three-bedroom, with 4 two-bedroom options and parking for 76 vehicles.
According to the development application from Zone Planning Group, the site comprises three separate allotments totalling 1650sq m, and is currently home to older housing stock.
According to GV Property Partners principal Antonio Mercuri, who amalgamated the three addresses for the developer, the new DA shows a reinvigorated confidence in the site and Palm Beach generally.
“It was clear the neighbours did not want an impact accessible DA, so Ignite knew what they were buying.
“[Ignite’s Josh Foote] has developed in Palm Beach multiple times, so they were the perfect buyers.
“It also shows the importance of local knowledge, understanding the market and the depth in it.
“It’s hard to know it if you’re not living it and breathing it, so when a local developer is buying a site in the neighbourhood, that gives confidence to the market, and it’s filling in much-needed supply for the coastal strip.”
The development is just one street back from the main strip which has interested other developers, including 5Point Projects which paid $15.6 million for a site on Jefferson Lane.