Exclusive: GemLife's latest NSW land lease community development revealed

With an estimated cost of $85 million, the ASX-listed lifestyle resort operator has plans for a new land lease community on exhibition.

The development application lodged to Clarence Valley Council is for GemLife Brooms Head on 9.3 hectares of land in Gulmarrad, near the town of Maclean in the NSW Northern Rivers.

The news follows GemLife receiving planning approval for a 335-home lifestyle resort in Queensland.

The development is one of the eight Aliria sites that GemLife, which listed on the ASX on 3 July last year, acquired, with a potential yield of 2,200 homes.

A further four Aliria projects, which are the subject of options/conditional contracts, were expected to be acquired between late FY25 and FY31, GemLife said at the time.

These acquisitions would bring GemLife’s portfolio to 32 communities, including developments in South Australia, with a total of 9,836 sites.

If approved, the staged development of the Brooms Head community will have a total of 176 lots.

The proposed site is bordered by Lincoln Place’s Northern Rivers Lifestyle Estate, agricultural land and large lot residential.

GemLife already operates a land lease community in Tweed Waters in Tweed Heads South, which is north of Gulmarrad, and has approval for another lifestyle resort at Lennox Heads. GemLife Rainbow Beach in Lake Cathie is also located further south.

A report to council by Focus Town Planning states “the landscape provides a place of sanctuary with relaxed leisure opportunities, comfortable pedestrian access and spatial and visual variety for interest.

“Clean lines and uncomplicated design layouts provide an uncluttered, comfortable and visually legible landscape. A sophisticated yet understated elegance complements the building’s finishes, blurring the spatial divide from inside to out.”

Council invites submissions on the proposal by 4pm on 9 February 2026.