Developer Urges Council To Unlock Arundel Hills To Bolster Housing Supply

WORDS: Madison Cooper PHOTOGRAPHY Supplied

The developer behind the proposed redevelopment of the former Arundel Hills Country Club has urged the Gold Coast City Council to get behind the project in light of the city’s critical housing shortage.

Steven Kleytman, CEO of 3Group and developer of Arundel Estate Development has described plans to unlock the abandoned golf club for public benefit as a ‘no brainer’ in terms of releasing much-needed housing supply through an infill development that he says is a ‘win-win for the environment and the local community’.

“Currently, this site has 67ha of privately owned flood-free land that is locked away from the public, but which can readily provide housing for the central Gold Coast,” said Mr Kleytman.

“It’s a travesty that this land, which is no longer viable as a golf course, should continue to lay dormant while the city is bursting at the seams amid the worst housing shortage in living memory.

“Under the proposal put forward by Arundel Estates, just 27 per cent of this site will be used to deliver an additional 380 lots for detached dwellings to accommodate up to 1,200 residents. The remainder will be for public use, with the majority of the site planned as an environmental reserve that also will extend the city’s koala mapping area.”

Mr Kleytman’s comments come on the heels of the 2023 Gold Coast Dwelling Supply Study which warned recently that the Gold Coast would struggle to meet State Government targets for land supply over the next 20 years. The study found that a significant portion of land within the city’s existing expansion area is unable to be developed because of environmental overlays and being diverted to other uses.

Arundel Estate earlier this year announced plans to transform part of the Arundel Country Club into an environmentally focused and sensitively integrated residential community while opening up the remaining land to educational and community uses as well as environmental reserve targeting a restoration of koala habitat.

“When the golf course was developed decades ago, it removed large areas of koala habitat and disrupted potential movement corridors from state significant habitat adjoining Arundel Hills to the north,” said Mr Kleytman.

“The proposal by Arundel Estates will effectively deliver much of this site back to the environment while delivering housing across a small portion of the site. The remaining 73 per cent will become public land and land gifted to A.B. Paterson College, for use as sporting fields which represents a “net gain” for the community.”

Mr Kleytman describes the proposed development as an ideal infill site that can be quickly bring homes to the market.

“The site is not on the city fringe, is not limited by environmental constraints and it is primed to deliver a generous community dividend in terms of new homes amid a new local environmental zone,” he said.

“It is located within the heart of one of the Gold Coast’s key residential areas that leverages off existing urban infrastructure, including key transport nodes.”

Mr Kleytman says the Arundel site is unique in that the areas of proposed development are cleared of original vegetation and will not materially disrupt the environment.

“This site is no longer viable as a golf course and it is too valuable to the community to lay dormant. Ultimately, our proposal for the site will create more than 40ha of public open space that will largely be devoted to environmental uses at no cost to taxpayers,” he said.

“The housing component will proceed without any material impact on native habitat by taking advantage of the existing landscape which includes corridors of eucalyptus trees alongside the fairways and the water bodies scattered throughout the site.”

The Gold Coast City Council is currently assessing the master planned development by Arundel Estate Developments.