A new residential community in Goonellabah is ready to be inspected by potential home owners.

The Eastwood development on Invercauld Road, Goonellabah will offer 133 homesites across a 21 hectare parcel of land. Managed by developers the McCloy Group, Stage 1 of Eastwood will be open to the public on November 16, from 10am-12pm. On offer in Stage 1 will be 16 to 20 blocks of land for sale to the public. McCloy Group Project Director Sam Rowe said the development will incorporate incorporate public art, children’s playgrounds and over 200 mature street trees.

“We seek to create communities which families can be proud to call home” Mr Rowe said. When complete Eastwood will be home to around 135 new homes and over 300 residents.

Fast progress

Mr Rowe said the development has been able to go ahead quickly because his company purchased the land 18 months ago with a Development Approval already in place.

“The previous developer never started the project because of the big upfront costs for infrastructure, on top of standard civil construction costs,” Mr Rowe said. “We realised we needed to take a hit on stage one to get it off the ground. Mr Rowe said some changes to the development plan were necessary to get the development to the construction certificate stage with Lismore Council.

“We had to make some changes to the roading because it was too close to residents’ properties,” Mr Rowe said. “And we took out the retaining wall on the side of the access road and instead made it a landscaped development. “We purposely collected a civil contractor with a good reputation and it was a quick 6-7 month program to get the works done – and we’ve been lucky with the weather.”

Six Stages

There will be six stages overall in the development, with 20-25 lots being made available in each stage. Mr Rowe said if stage 1 sold quickly, the company would begin work on stage 2 immediately.

“McCloy Group want to offer something different to what you would normally see in a subdivision,” Mr Rowe said. “We are offering an open park, natural landscape, utilising the natural rock features on the site and have replaced trees we’ve had to remove with mature trees.” A Vegetation Management Plan has been put in place which will see substantial revegetation of open space areas (including Gundurmba Creek corridor) undertaken, with over 7,000 thousand active tree and plant species to be planted within the community.

Open day

People interested in purchasing land can come and look at the development on November 16. Mr Rowe said representatives from real estate agent LJ Hooker would be on site on the day to walk people through the sites. People can secure land on the day with a $1000 holding deposit,” he said. “Block prices range from $149,000 to $257,000.

“The streets will be well presented, with roads, curbs, gutters and grass and lot sizes vary from 629 – 2700 square metres. Some of the land has a steep gradient and Mr Rowe said different options would be available for home builders who wanted a flat area, or a split level construction.

“As part of the stage 1 development, natural stone from the site has been resourced to create a statement entry feature to welcome future residents along with reuse in homesite benching,” he said. “Local residents will also notice the new public art commissioned with the launch of Eastwood, a three meter high bronze koala and its baby, titled Cuddles, by artists Gillies & Marc.

“We look forward to welcoming the community at the launch event, there will be brekkie wraps and coffee on us along with free children’s activities and local builders onsite.”

For more information about Eastwood, visit eastwoodliving.com.au or see Facebook for information about the open day on November 16

By Liina Flynn for The Lismore App.