A NEW TWEED HEADS

First look at proposed $180m city centre set to transform the Tweed

Exclusive report by MARGARET DEKKER

Forget the ‘twin towns’ of Tweed Heads and Coolangatta ..

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Tweed Heads could soon be ‘two cities’ under a bold and unprecedented redevelopment bid by ASX-listed Elanor Investors Group (ENN) to create a contemporary high-rise CBD, right in the heart of the aged border town.

If approved, the $180-million project would see the 5-ha Tweed Mall, “the biggest site in the Tweed CBD,” transformed under a mixed-used masterplan DA currently being drafted.

In an announcement to the ASX on October 10, Elanor Investors Group opened its Tweed Mall Mixed-Use Real Estate Fund having acquired the Tweed Mall shopping centre for $87 million.

“The mixed-use masterplan is in accordance with planning controls endorsed by the NSW Government and Tweed Shire Council and is expected to be approved in 2023,” Michael Baliva, ENN’s Co-Head of Real Estate said.

“1,000+ dwellings and other uses (hotel, commercial, retirement living etc). will unlock substantial real estate value,” Elanor’s investor flyer – sited by The Northern Rivers Times – states.

On the drawing board; a high-density, residential-commercial-retail complex of multiple residential towers up to 49.5m or 15 storeys tall.  The centre would be “anchored by three strongly-performing supermarkets” plus everyday-needs tenants in a mixed-use plan on a “strategic coastal .. and favourably zoned 5-hectare site that presents the opportunity to develop 1,000+ dwellings and new town centre precinct,” Elanor’s investor flyer states.

This ‘second’ Tweed Heads city centre would sprawl east of main Wharf Street.  The current city centre lies west of Wharf Street, intersecting with Bay Street.

The Tweed Mall site is already identified as having significant redevelopment potential to become a ‘landmark high density mixed-use precinct’ under the NSW Government’s Tweed Regional City Action Plan 2036, released in April this year.

With a ‘B3 Core Commercial’ zoning, Tweed Shire Council has also identified the 49-year-old Tweed Mall as “a key site for urban renewal” in its Tweed City Centre LEP 2012.

“Tweed Shire Council is now working with the proponents to get a full master plan of the site,” Cr Chris Cherry, Tweed Mayor confirmed to The Northern Rivers Times.

“And we must be realistic, it will be high-rise.  To protect the rest of the Tweed, we have to have housing density in that northern area of the Shire.

“I think there is capacity to put dense housing development there, 1–2-bedroom apartments, these smaller places we do need in the Tweed,” she added.

Design of an integrated, whole Master Plan is underway with the appointment in August of a NSW Design Review Panel (DRP) comprising government architects and landscape designers.  An earlier, local requirement for the site’s design to go to ‘competition’ was waived by Tweed Shire Council in May, giving stakeholders better control of the final design.

“It’s important to us that the site catches the essence of the Tweed, its unique biodiversity, character, and community.  We expect it to be the best of the best in design, an integrated green development with setbacks, green areas, something that will also improve the entrance to the Tweed, and we want it to provide a lot of public amenities,” Cr Chris Cherry, Tweed Mayor said.

“We want it to be a good quality high-rise that we can be proud of,” she added.

Mayor Cherry stressed the huge project had not received state and local Government approvals – contrary to Elanor’s marketing – nor is a DA lodged yet with Tweed Shire Council.

“The flyer indicates the project already has state and local government approval which is incorrect .. it’s definitely not appropriate to have Tweed Shire Council’s logo on the flyer,” Cr Chris Cherry, Tweed Mayor said.

Details on the project’s total number of dwellings and associated traffic issues will be debated.

“One-thousand-plus residences is an assumption and is likely overestimating the number of dwellings the project will house .. and nobody wants to create a traffic nightmare,” Cr Chris Cherry, Tweed Mayor said.

“There is a lot of room to improve.  The artists’ impression is certainly quite a different picture to what we’re envisaging,” she added.

This proposed new high-rise city for Tweed Heads is a clear (and some might argue ominous) sign the Gold Coast skyline is fast-moving south across the border.

Pro-development Tweed Shire councillor Warren Polglase told The Northern Rivers Times the new Tweed Heads city centre has been in the pipeline for 18-months and estimates 3-years until construction of this “opportunity of a lifetime for the Tweed.”

“This is the new CBD of Tweed Heads!” Cr Warren Polglase, Tweed Shire Councillor said.

“It’s the first time we’ve had the chance to have a major opportunity come our way, this has never happened before,” he enthused.

“And these are very creative people, doing new things in architecture.  We’re dealing with firms that work all over the world.”

A potential big commercial tenant – which The Northern Rivers Times has chosen not to name – is already reportedly enquiring about 3000m2 of corporate office space.

It represents big business and Cr. Warren Polglase is picturing the flow-on effects from Elanor’s proposed new city centre in Tweed Heads.

“This is an ideal opportunity for large commercial activity in the Tweed Shire.  And when you get one company of this stature invest in the Tweed, it will attract others to the new CBD.  Corporate investment like this, attracts more investment.

“Lismore was always the ‘Rome’ of the Northern Rivers, now it’s lost that, so there are a lot of people looking further north now.  Entrepreneurs of many vocations are looking to the Tweed saying, ‘we need a major facility,’” Cr. Warren Polglase, Tweed Councillor said.

The veteran councillor and President of the Tweed Chamber of Commerce and Industry described the major project as “a no brainer,” in line with other big-ticket items under construction or recently completed in the Tweed.

“We have a brand-new international airport at our door, a new hospital being built which is magnificent, millions spent on renovating schools, Motorway upgrades, the Gold Coast is expanding its light-rail south and now this proposal,” Cr Warren Polglase said.

Local demographics also tell of soaring demand for “lifestyle living for the over 60s group” and little housing stock in Tweed Heads.  The proposed new city centre would be situated only metres from the Jack Evans Boat Harbour and parklands, the big Twin Towns Services Club and is less than a kilometre to the surf at Coolangatta.  Strong interstate migration is also helping fuel population growth in the shire’s sub-tropical capital.

“It’s an opportunity to switch the lights on in the Tweed!” Warren Polglase said,

“New, vibrant, creative activity, we need all of that.”

With an estimated $180 million+ budget, the proposed Tweed Mall redevelopment becomes a project of State significance, but Tweed Shire Council will want input and Cr Polglase hopes, its unanimous support.

“We don’t want roadblocks suddenly taking this away,” he said.

Tweed Shire Mayor Chris Cherry conceded.

“It would be a good use of the site if done well,” she said, as Tweed Heads residents have begun contacting Mayor Cherry expressing concerns about the scale of the towering redevelopment in ‘their backyards.’

Glenn Willis, Elanor CEO and Managing Director said via statement:

“We are pleased with the strong demand from our capital partners for this fund.  This investment exemplifies Elanor’s strategy of investing in high-quality town centre real estate assets to unlock value through innovative and highly active management.  Elanor is a market leader in delivering strong investor returns from repositioning retail real estate assets, having successfully executed numerous repositioning strategies across Australia.”

State Member for Tweed, Geoff Provest MP was contacted for comment.

As the place-name ‘Tweed Heads’ hinted long ago, it may’ve always been destined to be a ‘tale of two cities’ .. potentially.