Across the border from one of the country’s hottest apartment markets, time almost appears to have stood still at Tweed Heads.  While glitzy northern neighbour the Gold Coast continues to soar, Tweed is feeling little of that surge. And far from helping the situation is a distinct lack of progress on an approved $900-million masterplan to transform a 1980s retail landmark into a vibrant precinct. Elanor Investors Group won concept approval for plans to transform the Tweed Mall, with 1400 homes, retail, hotel, office and medical components designed by Chrofi architects in July of last year. However, since then the group has been “de-leveraging the balance sheet through an asset realisation program and repaying debt”. The latest update from the group, released in March, says it is looking into the “potential sale of the business” and is postponing its annual general meeting until financial year 2024 results are finalised. Around $225-million worth of assets have been offloaded across the group’s managed funds since July of 2024, including a long list of hotel and retail assets in two of its funds.  A further $250 million of other assets are under due diligence. ▲ Tweed Mall at the time it was acquired by Elanor Investors Group. Manning Mall at Taree, Northway Plaza at Bundaberg and Waverley Gardens Shopping Centre in Victoria are among the disposals. Gladstone Square is the next asset due to hit the market. As well,  $230 million in hotel assets, including Mayfair Hotel Adelaide, Peppers Cradle Mountain Lodge, Parklands Resort Mudgee, Panorama Retreat and Resort in the Dandenong region, and Byron Bay Hotel and Apartments, have also been sold off  An official announcement around the Tweed Mall redevelopment is yet to be made, and Elanor Investments Group failed to respond to multiple requests by The Urban Developer for updates on the project. Tweed Shire Mayor Chris Cherry says the council is expecting to see detailed design on individual buildings soon and had not heard of a sale. “I haven’t had much contact with them lately. As far as I know, they’re still going through that design process,” Cherry says. “The concept has been approved, but they need to work on the development applications for the individual buildings, but I expect that we ’ ll see at least the first one of those pretty soon.” ▲ A rendering of the lower levels of the Tweed Mall redevelopment. The Mayor says that in the past few months the council had 79 development applications filed, of which 78 were approved. Things are happening, she says, just not yet. “Like everywhere across New South Wales and probably the country, a lot of those development applications are not resulting in construction works,” Cherry says. “They’re not being actually delivered on the ground because ... uncertainty in the lack of construction companies, the lack of construction workers.” Cherry says it is disappointing to see buildings approved and remain unbuilt particularly when the council wants to strategically plan for growth. “Even with the current controls in Tweed Heads itself, there’s a lot of area for growth,” Cherry says.  “There’s quite a bit of height allowed for in the northern part of Tweed Heads but it hasn’t really been realised yet.” ▲ The Tweed Heads-Coolangatta area from the air.  The coastal city is at the top of two very unfortunate lists, one from the most recent national census and the other from Anglicare Australia. “Tweed was in the headlines for all the wrong reasons during the past couple of weeks,” Cherry says. “We’ve got the third highest rate of homelessness in NSW. “In terms of rental affordability, we had zero rental properties for people on minimum wage.” There has been improvement in supply of late, however—a social housing project recently completed at Boyd Street and another is on the way, developed by Homes NSW, in the city. There are also several residential flat buildings down the road from the Tweed Mall, including Dream Build’s 13-storey scheme that includes affordable housing at 12-16 Florence Street. The scoping report for that project was made in January and was followed by Evimero’s plans for a shoptop apartment development of a similar height for 169-171 Wharf Street filed in April. Both make reference to the Tweed Mall masterplan as well as the Tweed Heads Boat Harbour Precinct plans in their applications. As well, Briscoe Hotel Group filed plans for 72 apartments over three levels of basement parking and ground-floor retail in June of last year for its site at 3-7 River Terrace. ▲ A rendering of the River Terrace scheme by Briscoe Hotel Group. The proposal was referred to the Northern Regional Planning Panel in July but the Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure is yet to schedule a determination meeting for the project. Across the road, a waterfront site is on the market—2 River Terrace  comprised a 1943sq m developable site, home to the Get Hooked Seafoods restaurant. Coastal Commercial commercial sales Ryan Hipwood says Tweed is an interesting place for developers brave enough to hop the border. “The council’s not as pro-development as the Gold Coast,” Hipwood says.  “There’s a lot of residential development but unfortunately commercial has been left by the wayside.” Hipwood says the broader Tweed Shire has more opportunities for other types of development, banking on the region ’ s close connection to Byron Bay. “I’m about to jump on a land release at Murwillumbah, a big commercial land subdivision,” he tells The Urban Developer . “There’s a lot of Byron Bay businesses and organisations out there [such as] Nutra Organics, Stone and Wood ... there’s a bunch.”  The Tweed Shire Mayor says a major part of supporting business growth in Tweed Heads was about ensuring more homes get built, especially affordable ones. “We’re trying to make sure that it stays as a kind of special place that’s a little bit different to the Gold Coast,” Cherry says. “We need to allow for growth because all of our kids want to live here, too. We’ve got to make sure that we can have places that they can afford.”
