Privately-owned developer Orchard Property Group has unveiled plans for a $105 million house and land development in Ipswich’s southern corridor.
The 502-lot Ripley masterplan, currently under construction, has to date seen 63 lots outlaid as part of its first release, with sites ranging in size from 362sq m to 600sq m.
Gold Coast-based Orchard picked up the 34-hectare site, located in the Ripley Valley priority development area, from a group of investors for $11 million late last year.
The masterplan project, Orchard’s second-largest following its $120 million 650-lot Pebble Creek project at South Maclean, further adds to the developer’s pipeline of more than 2,000 lots across five different projects around south east Queensland.
It has also been driven by a $7.2 million infrastructure grant from Economic Development Queensland (EDQ) to undertake a major upgrade of Binnies Road, providing access to the site.
“Over the last decade, Deebing Heights has emerged as one of the hidden gems in the Ripley Valley growth area with schools, shopping and recreation facilities all just a short drive away,” Orchard Property Group managing director Brent Hailey said.
“Ipswich is the fastest-growing region in Queensland, with annual population growth of more than 4 per cent with 70 per cent of that growth occurring in the region between Ipswich CBD and Springfield.”
The Ripley Valley PDA, located about five kilometres south-west of the Ipswich CBD and around 50 kilometres from Brisbane CBD, was declared in 2010 and covers 4,680 hectares.
Hailey said enquiry had picked up around the project, dubbed “Aurora”, with the Home Builder grant and the state government’s first homebuyer grant providing renewed incentives for buyers.
While the Home Builder scheme was a difficult pickup for developers looking at “quick turnaround” products—especially with greenfield sites requiring local authorities to set up the infrastructure such as roads, curbs, water, sewerage, electricity and so on—the timing of Orchard’s release has been opportunistic.
The project also sits within close proximity to the newly-built Deebing Heights State School which opened in 2016.
“The suburb has been in the shadow of the larger Ripley area for many years, but its proximity to the Ipswich CBD, Amberley RAAF base and other employment hubs has established it as property hotspot in its own right,” Hailey said.
To date the Queensland government has spent upwards of $1.5 billion on major infrastructure items in the western corridor since 2005.
A further $500 million was announced midway through last year to support the $366 million extension of the Centenary Highway and the extension of the passenger rail line from Darra to Springfield.
It will also support the Centenary Highway duplication to Springfield valued at $1.27 billion, as well as a $124 million extension of the Ipswich Hospital.
Japanese-backed developer Sekisui House last year raised plans for its $1.5 billion masterplan vision for Ripley Town Centre, a development spanning a 40-hectare site.
The $40 million first stage of the town centre, to be constructed by Hutchinson Builders, includes a Coles supermarket, specialty shops, medical centre and office space in a 9,400sq m market-style complex.
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