CBD terrace apartments in pitch for downsize market
LOS ANGELES: A developer has created early 20th century style town houses in an effort to win the down-sizer market.
A slice of inner-city Melbourne or Sydney streetscapes could be coming to Toowoomba’s CBD, with a developer unveiling plans for a set of terraced apartments in a burgeoning area.
Melbourne-based Queenslander Trent Macartney will lodge an application with the Toowoomba Regional Council within weeks for nine two-storey townhouses on a parcel of land bordering Royal and Snell streets.
Each unit will include two bedrooms and two bathrooms, with one parking space at the rear.
The project evokes the style of early 20th century terraced apartments in Sydney suburbs like Glebe (Sydney) or Fitzroy (Melbourne), which have no setbacks from the footpath and minimal parking footprint.
“The side-by-side terrace model, with full street frontage and heritage-style facades, has stood the test of time; to this day, these remain some of the most desirable dwellings in Australia’s major cities,” Mr Macartney said.
“Instead of following along with the previous DA (development application), which was for a multi-level unit complex and just wasn’t really viable in terms of construction component or costings, we went back to the drawing board.
“We thought, ‘how do we create something in inner-city Toowoomba that not only has relative affordability in terms of people being able to live there, but also adds a fantastic amount of value to the streetscape for people walking around and looking at the area?’
“Our goal was to create a project that enhances Toowoomba’s visual appeal from a heritage standpoint while providing relative affordability and a high standard of living for the local target market.”
The impending submission comes following a series of pre-lodgement meetings with the council’s planning department, which raised issues around the setbacks and under-supply of parking.
But Mr Macartney said he and the TRC had settled on a proposal that was unlikely to lead to a protracted assessment period.
“Unfortunately the planning scheme within Toowoomba is very difficult to create dwellings like this just because of its strict setback requirements with everything but I think what we have found with some meetings with Toowoomba Regional Council is there is some receptivity towards getting closer to the streetscape,” he said.
“We argued a lot of the commercial buildings (in that area) are all essentially street facing and a lot them butting right up to the sidewalk, so if we had some high level of creativity, would there be then some flexibility with our setbacks to allow the residents to be coming and going directly off the street like they do in many other cities in Australia?
“We actually went through four separate pre-lodgement meetings over about 12 to 14 months with council officers (and) at the last (meeting) we all said, ‘this has started to come together into really amazing project’.”
The site, which is located across from the Salvation Army’s new affordable housing project, is also around the corner from where the Baker’s Duck is opening its second store on Railway St.
Mr Macartney said he was excited for the future of the Toowoomba CBD around the railway station.
“I just see this railway section, this little inner pocket of the city, it’s going to be so trendy,” he said.
“In 12 months, it’s going to be sort of sought after to live there because it’s just got everything you need.”
Mr Macartney said he hoped to take the terraced apartments to market next year, pending council approval.