- Located at Shute Harbour
- Includes residences, and a marina
- Took 20 years for approvals to be made
The weekend will soon be upon us, so here’s to some leisurely reading, perhaps done on a sun lounge, tastefully positioned for Instagram in the correctly spelled Whitsundays, as opposed to the usual journalistic pundemonium.
In what has been touted as the first resort and marina precinct in almost twenty years for the postcard-perfect place, $350 million will be spent by a consortium to create Shute Harbour Marina Resort.
In more detail, it’s the first major marina and residential development in the Whitsundays since 2006.
The Australian consortium is headed by Mark Daniels, Mark McLachlan, Greg Phillips and Sam Wade, and the project has had quite the gestation period: it’s been said the project took 20 years before all the necessary approvals were given. It was identified as a project of significance by the Queensland Government in 2006.
A drop in the ocean
It’s a matter of perspective, but unless you have a helicopter to view the 28-hectare waterfront site from above, it isn’t really a drop, as such.
The resort master sees the Whitsundays to become the home for 58 resort dwellings, each with their own private marina berths of 25 or 35 metres at their doorstep, managed apartments with resort club facilities, and a 100-plus room resort hotel.
The marina will also include berths ranging from 10 metres to 35 metres for mono and multi-hull watercraft, while the land and berth packages will include marina facilities to accommodate boats up to 35 metres. Berths are priced between $175,000 and $1 million, with each berth sold on a 99-year lease.
Stage one will offer free-hold residential waterfront sites of 440sqm which are earmarked for two- and three-storey design concepts. Land-and-berth prices start from $1.75 million. Expressions of interest are also being taken on future stages which will include marina loft apartments and plaza terrace homes.
Shute Harbour
The project will be in the natural safe haven of Shute Harbour, and will “… tap into a critical shortage of secure cyclone protected boat moorings in the state’s north.”
Shute Harbour Marina Resort will also include a new commercial hub known as Pier 61, as part of a master-planned marina plaza that will create a range of new retail and commercial outlets for the waterfront development.
The entire precinct will be linked by public boardwalks, lookout spaces and seating throughout, with plans to also establish new public parks and a community cyclone shelter on site.
