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Matt Squared’s Jacara Project Breaks Local Townhouse Record
A Scarborough-based developer has recorded the highest sale price for a non-waterfront townhouse on Queensland’s Moreton Bay Peninsula after identifying a yield configuration for a site that had remained unsold for six months.
The record was set at Jacara, the debut joint project from Matt Squared (matt2) at 21 James Street, Scarborough with an unconditional sale of $2.1 million in February, 2025.
The 810sq m site, spread across two lots, had deterred most buyers due to an oddly positioned sewer line running through one of them.
Due to this, most developers were only picturing a yield of four, two-level townhouses which, to them, made the site unviable.
It wasn’t a problem for Matt Squared design director Matt Bradley, who said the constraint shaped rather than prevented innovative configuration.
“We placed the driveway over the sewer line and cantilevered the building above it,” Bradley said. “Within a day we had tested six three-level townhouses on the site and confirmed water views that wouldn’t be built out for the foreseeable future.”
The site was acquired for $1.35 million. Six months after development approval was received, the property was revalued at $2.35 million before construction began.
Six three-bedroom, 2.5-bathroom townhouses are under construction, each including a private lift, alfresco area and courtyard. Living areas on the top level capture water views, with bedrooms on the middle level and utilities and a multipurpose room at ground level.
Entry to each home is via a private walkway through a covered gatehouse, a departure from the shared driveway arrangement common to the townhouse format.
Development approval was received in August 2025, six months after the February contract date. Construction is due to complete in September, with key handover in November.
The total timeline from contract to completion is approximately 20 to 21 months, a turnaround Matt Squared’s integrated model makes “very much replicable”.
Matt Squared integrates design, construction and development under one entity, with both co-directors holding equity positions as designer and builder respectively.
“There’s the traditional developer model, then there’s the builder-developer model,” Bradley said. “We take it one step further. We’re also the designer. Both directors have equity. I don’t know of another development company structured that way.”
Plans for Jacara were DA-ready before settlement, enabling lodgement immediately after the site was purchased, co-director Matt Menere said.
“As soon as we receive approvals, we can mobilise and get straight into construction,” he said. “We skip a lot of the steps that slow down the conventional model.”
Cost management also operates differently under the integrated structure.
“We’re not paying large builder margins and large contingencies,” Menere said. “That means we can invest in the product in ways the conventional model doesn’t allow.”
Inclusions at Jacara exceed standard specifications across waterproofing, glazing, roofing, concrete, insulation, solar and air conditioning. They’re upgrades the pair said would not have been financially viable under a standard developer-designer-builder arrangement.
“And we choose sites based on whether we’d love to live there,” Menere said. “We build as if it’s our own home. We want what we deliver to stand the test of time.”
Targeting downsizers seeking an alternative to apartment living, Bradley and Menere identified a price gap on the Peninsula between beachfront apartments above $3.5 million and lower-specification walk-up townhouses.
“There’s nothing in between,” Bradley said. “So, that’s where we sit.”
Private lifts are standard across all homes—a requirement when living areas are placed on the top level to maximise water views and a practical consideration for buyers planning for reduced mobility over time.
1 of 3
Matt Squared is about a year old and has a project pipeline approaching $50 million, which includes three projects in development.
Ernest and Sampson, a four-townhouse project at Margate, Redcliffe is entering construction. The duo is also preparing a development application for Luna at Margate—a project comprising 11 townhouses (concept renderings pictured above).
“We’re aiming to double our project size every 12 months,” Menere said. “The pipeline proves the model works. Now we’re scaling it.”
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