Developer seeks to integrate approved 120-home over-50s project into broader community

Property developer Dallas Hunter has been granted approval from Toowoomba Regional Council to build a land lease community in Harristown, a residential suburb 3km southwest of the city’s CBD.

Dallas, Director of Altona Street Developments and Colbar Street Developments, and Director and Property Manager of Toreth and Cenaphora Investments, said the community, called Everly was for the people of Toowoomba.

“Everly is about rethinking Over 50s living – creating a connected, welcoming neighbourhood that feels genuinely part of Toowoomba,” he said in a statement.

“When you live here, every decision matters, (so) we’re building for our neighbours, our community, and our home.”

The development by Altona Street Developments is on nearly five hectares of land, and is just a short walk from Glenvale Coles shopping precinct, and around the corner from a childcare centre, a Bupa aged care facility and multiple pharmacies.

The 120 lots within the village will range from 210sqm to 330sqm, to cater for two- and three-bedroom homes. There will also be a communal precinct covering 1550sqm, with a clubhouse, open spaces and amenities like an indoor swimming pool, gym, community dining hall, and a pickleball court.

Toowoomba is a hotspot for land lease developments including Millbray, Liven Communities, GemLife with two communities, and Ingenia Lifestyle also with two communities.

Despite the mix of two- and three-bedroom homes at Everly Toowoomba Regional Council concluded the majority of the homes would be three bedrooms. As a consequence, an infrastructure charges notice (ICN) of $4.4 million was imposed based on all homes being three-bedroom or more (at $36,670 per dwelling).

The local newspaper noted that the ICN would have been just $3.1 million if the homes had been calculated as two bedrooms or less (at $26,193 per dwelling) based on the Council’s charges register.