JWLand Plans Northbourne Village’s Final Stage

Developer JWLand has planned the final hotel stage of the Northbourne Village project in Canberra’s inner-north.

The site on Northbourne Avenue is between Embark, the first stage of the Northbourne Village project and the third stage of the project, which is now awaiting approval in the planning process.

It is also bordered by Owen Crescent and is a short distance from Sullivans Creek.

The 156-room hotel and serviced-apartments project will have nine storeys and JWLand hopes, approval pending, to complete it in 2025. 

The site is close to the heritage-listed Owen Flats and other heritage buildings, all of which will be retained along with several protected trees. 

Given the narrow width of the site and the protected trees, there will be no basement parking under the building for Stage 4.

Instead, the parking for Stage 4 will be included in the basement parking levels under the buildings in Stage 3 of the Northbourne Village project.

▲ The final hotel stage also backs onto Owen Crescent and is near Sullivans Creek.

Stage 1, Embark, is already completed and Stage 2 is under construction. 

Stage 1 is a nine-storey 172-unit project with four commercial tenancies with an end value of $80 million. 

Stage 2 has 44 units in one multi-level five and six-storey building, and another 124 units in another nine-storey building. 

It has an end value of $95 million. 

It will also have 261 carparking spaces across three basement levels.

Stage 3 will also have multi-level buildings, with the first one having 230 units across a multi-level six, eight and nine-storey building, and another 121 units in a second multi-level six and eight-storey building.

Stage 3 has an end value of $200 million.

The entire Northbourne project has a estimated end value of $300 million.

Northbourne Avenue has seen a lot of development projects recently as the ACT government constructs the Northbourne Avenue light rail line. 

The ACT government has been releasing land in large tracts along the line as it is constructed, on occasion demolishing low-quality low-density social housing projects and relocating residents to make room for larger high-density developments. 

JWLand ACT development head Michael Prendergast said it meant that developers often followed where the government chose to release land.

“At the scales of development that we do, which is precinct scales, the majority of the land that is released and is available for sale is sold by the ACT government,” Prendergast said.

“So it’s either residual land being earmarked for future development or they were community or social housing at very low density so they demolish the housing, relocate the residents and they sell off these large parcels of land in auctions or expressions of interest processes.”

▲ One of the hotels planned for JWLand's Braddon Place project along Canberra’s Northbourne Avenue, which will have 600 apartments and 239 hotel rooms.

In addition to the Northbourne Village, JWLand has spent $28 million on another site along Northbourne Avenue with plans awaiting approval for a residential precinct with an estimated end value of $500 million.

Braddon Place will have 600 apartments, 239 hotel rooms and 908 carparking spaces across six buildings.

Evri Group has filed plans for another residential precinct, tipped to have an estimated end value of $150 million with 447 units nearby. 

Johnny Roso’s Art Group has also filed plans for a residential precinct with 424 units and an end value of more than $200 million at the corner of Macarthur Avenue and Northbourne Avenue.