Developer Damien Gwynne gets green light for 231-home land lease community in Highfields, Toowoomba

The town, 12km north of Toowoomba in the Darling Downs region of southern Queensland, is proving to be a magnet for retirement living operators. The region is already home to a number of retirement villages and land lease communities, including:

• GemLife Highfields, which was launched seven years ago with homes priced in the low $400,000s;
• The $250 million 23ha GemLife Highfields Heights, announced in July last year homes starting from the low $700,000s;
• A planned 520-home Ingenia Lifestyle development on a 33ha site in Highfields, revealed last December; and
• Carinity Brownsholme's retirement village in Highfields, which opened in 1995. 

Now Gold Coast developer Damien Gwynne's CW Group has received approval from Toowoomba Regional Council to build 231 single-storey, mainly three-bedroom homes across a 10.667ha site in the residential community Botanic. The $56 million project will be delivered in 10 stages and include communal facilities such as a clubhouse, lawn bowls green, swimming pool, gymnasium, cinema, function area, art room, lounge/games area and library.

Damien said the company planned to dedicate a third of its land – about 30ha – for a natural flora and fauna habitat under the protection of the Queensland Government.