It has been billed as Australia’s most resilient residential market, with developers and investment piling in and the nation’s seventh biggest city welcoming a record number of citizens this year.

But Newcastle’s boom has nothing to do with its long association with coal mining. It’s all about population growth, according to Ray White’s head of commercial research, Vanessa Rader. 

“The housing affordability of the region has not gone unnoticed as well as the lifestyle benefits and access still to Sydney,” Rader says.

“Investment in infrastructure across the region has made Newcastle a stand-alone region for people to live, work and play, not a commuter town with limited prospects.”

If it maintains its current growth trajectory, Newcastle’s population is expected to tip over 200,000 by 2041. 

But it’s not all roses. 

“Demand to purchase will be slow this year (as it is across most areas) given interest rate increases which has dampened investment activity for the remainder of this year,” Rader says.

“Construction of new stock will also slow given rising finance costs and high construction costs.  

“The office market may continue to have take-up, albeit at a limited rate like most other office markets. Opportunities will stem from the services industries which may prop up retail assets given the growth in population, similarly medical, childcare will see an uptick in demand.”

Yet the Newcastle market remains robust. 

Bucking the slowdown, Urban Activation Group has netted more than $50 million in sales in just a month on Iris Capital’s $1-billion East End Village project, with Iris Capital chief executive Sam Arnaout announcing the fast-track of the final stages of the project. 

Urban Activation Group director of sales Matt George said the market was firing and most of his team were now based in the regional city. 

“The Iris Capital project is an unique offering,” George says.

“He [Arnaout] is building a landmark that he wants—the detail in these buildings is extraordinary and the architecture is really impressive. 

“Newcastle has had a huge amount of infrastructure spending over the past five years and with the rail network to Sydney the fundamentals are strong.”

The strong sales data supports the longer-term view that Newcastle and the Hunter Valley are among the strongest residential property markets in Australia at the moment. George says local-buyer interest has predominantly led the sales with downsizers from regional properties moving into town. 

Iris Capital is among a number of high-calibre developers who are reshaping the regional city from east to west, including Sydney-based developers Thirdi and WINIM, and Canberra-based Doma Group. 

Thirdi co-founder Luke Berry says investment in local infrastructure is boosting the attraction for people moving to Newcastle.

“Dairy Farmers Towers and The Merewether are sitting at close to 80 per cent sold,” Berry says.

“Being only an hour and a half up the highway from Sydney, we have had a lot of buyers purchase in Newcastle since Covid as they may only have to be at the Sydney office one or two days a week. They not only get more for their money in Newcastle, they also get the amazing lifestyle that comes with it.”

Thirdi has been developing in Newcastle for 15 years but Berry says the buyer profile has shifted significantly over that time. 

“Owner-occupiers and investors alike are craving generously sized properties and a level of finish that has previously been unavailable in the region. 

“In our Dairy Farmers Towers and Merewether Residences projects, never before has it been more important to ensure floor plates are overly generous and that all living spaces have been fully rationalised as well as the inclusion of high end finishes.

“Dairy Farmers is under construction and The Merewether is close to commencing. Newcastle is a desirable city to live and work in, the migration from Sydney due to Covid has helped the city boom and it will continue to grow.”

Another strong proponent of the future of Newcastle is WINIM joint managing director Justin Kuiters. The developer bought up the Newcastle Beach Hotel last year, nestled on the headland between Nobby’s and Newcastle beaches.

Kuiters said WINIM had long been dedicated to Newcastle. The developer recently sold a retail asset and is working with the council on repositioning the Newcastle Beach Hotel as a boutique luxury hotel and residential mixed-use development. 

“Our confidence in Newcastle as one of our preferred regional hotspots, even in the face of the Covid-19 impact, is rooted in extensive research and the fact that Newcastle has sound property and growth fundamentals,” Kuiters says.  

Kuiters says the city’s economic fortunes are tied to key industry sectors, including agriculture, mining and tourism, while the city’s CBD is experiencing strong growth in prime and subprime office markets.

The city is also undergoing a masterplanned transformation of a 50ha former industrial parcel of land at Honeysuckle into an entertainment, tourism and recreation hub at the edge of Newcastle Harbour. 

“The city has strong market and industry fundamentals and the early masterplanning undertaken over the last decade has put the city in prime position for growth and regeneration,” he says.

“Add to this, a surge in demand in regional areas during and after Covid as well as the extensive development activity on the honeysuckle foreshore has further fuelled opportunities for the city. There are now strong values being realised and more investment being targeted for the city, and WINIM has future plans to grow there.”

The developer is hoping to receive approval for its repositioning of the run-down Newcastle Beach Hotel in June, with works planned for later this year.

Doma Group has been given the green light to build its two-tower residential development on the historic former Store buildings site in Newcastle’s West End. The Store Residences will be the final stage of the $350-million transformation of the 8743sq m site at 854 Hunter Street.

The city is also in line for a $100-million investment in Port of Newcastle as a green hydrogen hub, with funding for feasibility studies, detailed designs and early works. 

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Demand for new retirement living apartments seems still unquenched with property development and investment group Third.i stating it has had over 2,500 enquiries about its forthcoming Over 55s development The Merewether in the city of Newcastle, 162km north-northeast of Sydney.

The Merewether is part of the redevelopment of the Merewether Golf Club. ThirdAge Villages offers 148 two- and three-bedroom apartments plus penthouses in a design by architects, Marchese Partners | Life 3A

Third.i said it had recorded $3.5 million in sales across a number of penthouses for the $120 million development, which will secure the financial future of the 18-hole golf club.

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The joint venture between ThirdAge and the club will be known as The Merewether. It will be home to 148 luxury one, two, and three bedroom apartments in four, six-storey complexes, and includes 16 penthouses with rooftop spa terraces overlooking the golf course.

ThirdAge director, Luke Berry welcomed the decision which will benefit the club and community, and explained that the project will bring a new style of much needed retirement living to inner Newcastle. The resort style community will feature a lap pool, cinema, gym, workshop, communal kitchen, and craft rooms. The golf club and community members will benefit from a new clubhouse, restaurant facilities, sports bar, and a wellness centre for its members and apartment residents.

“The project will create more than 1,000 construction jobs and close to 100 ongoing jobs, which is great news for the local economy as we emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic. The Merewether is all about enjoying the best of Newcastle’s great lifestyle and community, with a concierge, resident events such as gala dinners, and classes in cooking, yoga and pilates, and, of course, the beautiful championship Merewether Golf Club is on residents’ doorsteps,” Berry said.

ThirdAge will soon call for construction tenders and hopes to have residents in their new homes by mid-2024. Merewether Golf Club is providing a 99-year lease of the development land, with President, Phil Merrigan explaining that the project will help secure the club’s long-term financial future, and allows Merewether Golf Club to remain accessible for members, community golfers, and visitors to the region to enjoy.

“This project delivers funding to support significant investment in the golf course and the Club’s infrastructure and facilities. We have been able to realise our vision of a world class golfing facility and retirement living precinct without having to reduce the size of the course,” Merrigan said.

The panel approved concept plans and issued a site compatibility certificate for the project in May, 2020. This allowed ThirdAge to submit a development application (DA) to the City of Newcastle, where council reviewed the DA and recommended the project be approved by the panel. Club members endorsed the project back in 2018.

On October 20 this year, ThirdAge hosted a ‘Future of Retirement in the Hunter’ webinar. Targeted to over 55s, the webinar was a first of its kind and was attended by 600 participants. The session covered topical themes such as the costs involved in moving into an over-55s development, DMF, pension, investment, the comparison of upgrading an existing home, non-invasive technology and how it’s evolved, everything you need to know regarding the process of buying and selling, how to harness brand trust in community, and the connection to community.

“The perception of the over-55s category is no longer a nursing home environment. People expect more, they want more and they’re searching for better lifestyle options, resort-style living, non-invasive technology, and a sense of community,” explains Berry.

Whilst local downsizers, particularly members of Merewether Golf Club are leading the charge on enquiries, ThirdAge is also receiving a large number of enquiries from Sydneysiders looking to retire in a picturesque setting away from the city. With so much choice on offer for over-55s, ThirdAge recognises that property located in premium locations – particularly those that are still accessible to Sydney should a visit be required – yet seem truly a world away in terms of proximity to nature and to the coast, will drive demand.

ThirdAge, a division of Sydney-based developer Third.i, will manage the apartments. Third.i has successfully delivered large-scale residential projects in Sydney and Newcastle. The latter includes projects in the West, Eaton on Union, and Stella on Hannell apartments in Wickham. The group currently has a development pipeline worth more than $2.5 billion.

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Planning authorities have approved a 148-unit residential development at Merewether golf course.

Developer ThirdAge says it plans to start work in mid-2022 after the Hunter and Central Coast Regional Planning Panel gave the green light to the seniors living project late last week.

The redevelopment includes demolishing and rebuilding the Merewether clubhouse and erecting a six-storey residential complex across four buildings.

The project, to be known as The Merewether, will include changes to the course to accommodate the new buildings.

Merewether Golf Club members voted to approve the development three years ago.

The club will enter into a 99-year lease with ThirdAge, which is a collaboration between Sydney-based Thirdi Group and former Lendlease and Stockland retirement living executive Michael Eggington.

The “luxury” one-, two-, and three-bedroom apartments will include 16 penthouses with roof-top spa terraces.

The complex will include a lap pool, cinema, gym, workshop, communal kitchen, craft rooms and a “wellness centre”. 

Thirdi hopes to complete construction by mid-2024.

Golf club president Phil Merrigan said the project would help secure the club’s long-term financial future and fund “significant investment” in the course.

The course would “remain for members, community golfers and visitors to the region to enjoy”, he said.

“We have been able to realise our vision of a world-class golfing facility and retirement living precinct without having to reduce the size of the course,” he said.

Merewether is one of many Hunter golf clubs to contemplate joint ventures with residential property developers to help their bottom line.

The club has started preparing temporary changes to the course layout to allow demolition and building work to start.

It will operate from a temporary clubhouse until the new building is finished.

Mr Merrigan said Merewether would remain as an 18-hole course during the construction.

Thirdi is the company behind the West, Eaton on Union and Stella on Hannell apartments in Wickham.

The planning panel said the redevelopment was of appropriate scale and character for the site and would add to housing diversity and choice in the area.

It said community concerns about parking, traffic and noise had been adequately addressed in assessment reports on the project’s development application.

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A proposal for a $120 million retirement resort at the Merewether Golf Club, in Newcastle, NSW, is drawing heavy interest despite not being approved for development yet. 

The $120 million retirement resort, from developer Thirdi, would be attached to the golf club which would enter into a 99-year partnership, with the club retaining ownership of the land.

Upon completion the resort would house 100 senior living units, with more than 200 people already registering their interest.

The resort was designed Marchese Partners and the proposal is being supported by former LendLease CEO and current ThirdAge Villages partner Michael Egginton.

ThirdAge Villages is a collaboration with Thirdi that aims to introduce developments, products and services yet to be seen in Australia.

The DA is still with the City of Newcastle Council and if approved is expected to be completed by late 2023 or early 2024.

Director and Co-Founder of Thirdi Group Luke Berry told The Daily Telegraph they expect the DA to be approved within six months.

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Development plans for a $120 million seniors living village development at Merewether Golf Club in Newcastle have advanced after receiving a nod of approval from the regional planning panel.

The senior living precinct would sit within the golf course located between Adamstown and Merewether, with the proposed project to include 148 serviced units within a tower development.

Thirdi Group and Merewether Golf Club’s plans were given concept approval by the Hunter and Central coast Regional Planning Panel. The proposal, including the wellness centre, comprises four separate towers on two podiums above car parking.

Merewether Golf Club captain Aaron Spalding said the project would help secure the club’s financial future, after starting the process four years ago.

“It also paves the way for significant investment to take place in our course infrastructure and facilities, something that was really important to our members when we decided to explore this type of partnership with Thirdi Group.”

▲ The existing site plan.marchese partners

The project, which was announced by the club in 2016, involves a 99-year lease of the development land to Thirdi Group.

“These are the sorts of developments our community needs in a Covid-19 recovery,” Thirdi Group’s Luke Berry said.

“We estimate that our project will create over 1000 jobs in the region during construction and close to 100 ongoing jobs when the new club, facilities and seniors living village is operational.”

The site compatibility certificate, granted by the planning panel, ensures development proposals are broadly compatible with land uses, before advancing to the development application lodgement stage.

Thirdi Group will now work with the club to finalise its development application, with plans to lodge the project with Newcastle City Council by mid-year.

See full article here: https://theurbandeveloper.com/

MEREWETHER SENIORS’ PRECINCT SET TO GO AHEAD

Thirdi Group will lodge a development application for its $120 million joint-venture seniors living project at Merewether Golf Club before the end of the financial year.

The group’s directors met with club officials and members at the course on Tuesday to celebrate the approval of a site compatibility certificate for the development.

The Hunter and Central Coast Regional Planning Panel approved the concept plans for the site early last week, allowing Thirdi Group to progress with a DA.

The proposed development, unveiled by the club in mid-2017 and endorsed by members a year later, includes 148 serviced apartments, a new clubhouse, health and fitness centre and other associated amenities.

“We’d like to think we can lodge [the DA] by the end of June,” Thirdi Group sales director Luke Berry said.

“The bulk and scale has essentially been approved by the state government and we’re now going to submit our plans that fit within that bulk and scale. [The] project will create over 1000 jobs in the region during construction and close to 100 ongoing jobs when the new club, facilities and seniors living village is operational”.

Thirdi Group is aiming to create a lifestyle precinct at the course. Its aged care business Third Age will manage the seniors living apartments which, if approved, will be constructed in four six-storey unit blocks along one of the existing fairways adjoining the redeveloped clubhouse.

“The golf club will benefit from a new clubhouse, restaurant facilities and a wellness centre that will be shared between the club [members] and the community of the seniors village,” Mr Berry said.

“We’re proposing a 25-metre lap pool, gym, consult rooms so you can have local businesses come to the facility. The broader community will benefit from a multi-million dollar clubhouse, restaurant, sports bar and we’d like to think, back to the olds days when this club was centre to weddings and conferences, we’re going to be able to create that for this club and the community.”

 NEXT STEP: Thirdi Group director Luke Berry, right, speaks at the course on Tuesday.

Speaking on behalf of the board, Merewether Golf Club captain Aaron Spalding said the project, which involves a 99-year lease of the development land to Thirdi Group, would help secure the club’s long-term financial future.

“We started this process close to five years ago and the SCC is the strongest indication yet our shared vision of a creating a world class golfing facility and seniors living precinct is on track to become a reality,” he said.

“Not only will this development help secure our clubs future, it also paves the way for significant investment to take place in our course infrastructure and facilities.”

City of Newcastle objected to the development in its assessment made to the panel, suggesting it was inconsistent with the strategic context and vision for the area.

It raised concerns with the height, scale and character of the proposed development and likely traffic impacts on local streets, including up to a 50 per cent increase in traffic at the King Street and Glebe Road intersection.

But the Department of Planning said in its submission that “current strategic planning does not specifically deal with this site” and “an opportunity exists for a development that takes advantage of the large site to minimise offsite impacts while allowing for the continued use of the golf course”.

The planning panel ultimately approved the SCC subject to a number of conditions that require additional plans to be lodged with the development application regarding landscaping, tree retention, design standards and traffic impacts.

Merewether Golf Club is celebrating today.

The Newcastle-based club, located two hours north of Sydney between Adamstown and Merewether, has just been handed its site compatibility certificate for the development of an impressive, $120 million seniors’ living village.

The certificate – received after a unanimous decision from the Hunter and Central Coast Regional Planning Panel – provides the mechanism for future development consent to be obtained from Newcastle City Council across the site.

Merewether GC has teamed up with property developer Thirdi Group to envisage a project that looks to include: a new clubhouse; sports bar; pro shop & conference centre; as well as the provision for 148 serviced, self-care seniors’ living units and wellness centre, within a multi-story tower development with basement parking and associated facilities.

“We are absolutely thrilled with this outcome,” said Merewether Golf Club board member Aaron Spalding.

“We started this process close to four years ago and the SCC is the strongest indication yet our shared vision of a creating a world-class golfing facility and seniors’ living precinct is now on track to become a reality.”

Added Luke Berry from Thirdi Group: “These are the sorts of developments our community needs in a COVID-19 recovery, providing jobs during construction and importantly providing housing for those that have been identified as our most vulnerable during the crisis.

“We estimate that our project will create over 1,000 jobs in the region during construction and close to 100 ongoing jobs when the new club, facilities and seniors living village is operational.”

Merewether’s golf course was established in 1933 and currently features tight, tree-line fairways with strategic bunkers and numerous water hazards.

The club’s board has commissioned golf course architect James Wilcher, founder of Golf by Design, to provide course design assistance – and the following changes to the course would be made should the development go ahead …

• Dismantle the existing 18th hole to cater for the proposed development.
• Split the existing par-5 11th into a par-3 and a par-4.
• Extend the existing 16th to become a dogleg left par-4
• Consolidate the dam infrastructure … This is yet to be finalised but current considerations include: Additional dams proposed for the current 1st, 2nd and 8th holes; modifying the dams on the 14th, 15th and 16th holes.
• Extend the existing 9th to become a par-5
• Change the 7th and 8th from a par-4 and par-3 to become a par-3 and par-4 respectively.

Thirdi Group will now work with the golf club and its consultants to finalise its Development Application and lodge with Newcastle City Council later in May or June this year.

Further details of the multi-million dollar project – including draft designs – can be found by visiting the club’s website.

By

Adam Murray

Merewether Golf Club has been given major development approval to create a senior living precinct within the golf course between Adamstown and Merewether.

The $120 million project includes the creation of 148 serviced, self-care seniors living units and wellness center, within a multi-story tower.

A new clubhouse will also be constructed with a new restaurant, sports bar, pro shop & conference centre.

The development is estimated to create more than a thousand jobs during construction.

100 ongoing jobs will also be created when the new club, facilities and seniors living village are operational.1 of 4 

Real estate developer Thirdi Group is partnering with the golf club with the development.

Director of Project Management, Robert Huxley said the developer is now looking forward to finalise its development application.

“We now look forward to working with Newcastle City Council… and deliver on
our promise to create one of the best Golf Clubs & Seniors Living precincts ever seen in the Newcastle & Hunter Region”.

Merewether Golf Club board member Aaron Spalding said they’ve been working on the project for close to 5 years.

“Not only will this development help secure our clubs future, it also paves the way for significant investment to take place in our course infrastructure and facilities.”

Reporter Tyson Cottrill will have more details tonight at 6.