How many houses can you fit on a tennis court?
It’s game on for a developer building multiple homes on the site of a tennis court once connected to a former holiday timeshare building.
Sherpa Property Group launched off-the-plan sales for three contemporary freehold houses in its Freedom Vantage project, located along the northern Coast’s so-called Golden Mile at Labrador.
The 915 sqm site at 45 Labrador St once hosted recreational facilities for holidaymakers at the 1980s-era Sandy Point Resort on the Broadwater, including a tennis court and putt-putt golf course.
In June 2022, Sydney-based McDonald Industries paid $26.8m for the entire 14-storey hotel. Rebranded as Park Shore, the building was refurbished and converted into modern two and three-bedroom residential apartments, priced from $695,000 and sold separately to private owners.
The land with the tennis court was subdivided, cleared, and sold to Gold Coast-based developer Sherpa in November 2023 (sale price undisclosed prior to settlement).
Sherpa has launched pre-sales for its planned trio of houses, priced at $1.585m, $1.685m, and $1.699m, for lot sizes of 246, 329, and 349 sqm respectively.
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The ‘small lot’ project is an innovative housing solution for buyers seeking an alternative to apartment living, just 150m from the waterfront, Sherpa Property Group founder Christie Leet said.
“As a developer, I see immense potential in small-lot homes as they provide a sustainable solution to housing demand while preserving the character of our communities,” Mr Leet said.
“We believe the future of housing lies in thoughtful, compact designs that maximise space on small lots and minimise environmental impact.
“That’s exactly what we’re aiming to achieve with Freedom Vantage, driven by our less is more ethos.”
House-and-land packages each include a two-storey home with a private pool and premium finishes, with either three or four bedrooms and two bathrooms.
The Sandy Point building, along with the site owned by Sherpa, were sold by Avanti Commercial Gold Coast agent, Lachlan Harris.
Mr Harris said the tennis court land had been “hotly contested” due to its sought-after location along the northern Gold Coast corridor.
“The owner strata-titled the building, sold 43 units down and then cut this piece off to present a house site with direct access to the Broadwater,” Mr Harris said.
“It is suitable for up to three-storey walk-up units, all the way to houses, and was hotly contested.
“We are finding the northern Gold Coast is experiencing a surge of interest from developers and other buyers.”
He said the area traditionally had an older demographic to the central and southern Coast’s beaches, but market demand for freestanding houses would attract new owner-occupier buyers.
Sherpa has delivered 10 Gold Coast projects over the past six years, most recently Perspective Broadwater at Biggera Waters, and Perspective on Albatross at Mermaid Beach.
Freedom Vantage is among three projects in the works following a spate of site acquisitions.
PropTrack data shows house prices in Labrador were up 3.7 per cent to a median of $924,000 in the past 12 months.