STOCKLAND is closing in on its 50th sale of beachside blocks that won’t be ready for residents for at least a year.
Buyer demand is matching the developer’s expectations at the 20 hectare Bokarina Beach site, according to Stockland Sunshine Coast regional manager Ben Simpson.
He said works to connect the residential development with the Kawana Town Centre were progressing well.
Pylons have been driven beside Nicklin Way to form two side-by-side bridges that will cross the eastward expansion of Lake Kawana.
The existing junction of Nicklin Way and Lake Kawana Boulevard will also be upgraded so the latter extends east into the new development.
About 800 apartments and 300 homes will house between 2500 and 3000 people once the works are complete.
Earthworks started about a year ago and that activity stepped up earlier this year as sales for the southern end of the development opened.
Construction on the first homes is due to begin late next year and the first residents are expected to move in by early 2019.
The whole community will be developed in stages, with construction expected to be completed on the final stage by about 2020.
It will also have a commercial aspect which Mr Simpson said would be ground-floor retail and restaurants along the beachfront and northern boundaries.
He said nearly 50 blocks of land had been sold since June.
Property at the northern end of the development is expected to hit the market in the next month.
“We’ve had a lot of interest locally in the project,” Mr Simpson said.
Interest has also been registered from hotel developers as well as other third-party developers.
Mr Simpson said those discussions were ongoing.
He said the influx of residents attracted by the hospital and health precinct was also evident in sales for the Oceanside area as well as Stockland’s Aura development at Caloundra South.
About 20 per cent of sales at both have been health industry related.
Mr Simpson said he would have loved to have had the area developed and residents moved in by now but appreciated the support afforded by Sunshine Coast Council in pushing the Oceanside precinct forward.
Originally Published: www.sunshinecoastdaily.com.au