Community & Business
6 March, 2025
Hotel, resort style living set for Atherton
A UNIQUE project is well underway in Atherton that will deliver the town a new quality hotel and a resort-style living residential development.
Sunshine Gardens Resort is being established on a 25-hectare site on the southern side of town, with the developers already constructing an external road to connect the new development to the Kennedy Highway, and an internal road, both costing more than $4 million.
The project, estimated to be worth $15-$20 million, is from Sunshine Group Australia, which has a portfolio of other real estate holdings including The Lakes resort in Cairns, Cairns One, another resort at Mission Beach, and one in Bourke, New South Wales.
The two-staged development will feature facilities not seen before in a residential housing project in this region – a man-made lake with a viewing platform, communal areas, a community centre which will include a cafe and gym, a BBQ area, pathways, and a large resort-style pool.
The design allows for 66 accommodation units, 76 titled lots, and a manager’s residence, and allows for short-term accommodation for locals and tourists.
According to the Sydney-based company’s director, David Sun, once the internal road has been completed, sales of the lots will get into full swing.
“We want to have the road completed so people can drive into the development to see the lots and the view from that lot,” he said.
He estimated both roads would be completed by September and once a number of lots have been sold, construction on the hotel would commence.
“It’s hard to get the banks to lend money so we want to sell 30 lots, and then I can use those funds to build the hotel,” he told The Express.
Mr Sun said 10 lots had already been sold and there was a variety of sizes on offer – from 400sq m to 800 sq m, still available.
“Buyers can buy a house and land package or they can buy the land and use their own builder,” Mr Sun said.
Lots of 400sq m would sell for around $275,000, with larger lots going for $325,000, while house and land packages would cost around $600,000-$700,000.
Mr Sun said those who chose to live at the resort would be able to use all the facilities without having to maintain or clean the common areas.
“We will charge $1000 a year (similar to a body corporate) and they will have use of all of the areas and that will also cover a 24-hour onsite manager.”
He said the display home was expected to be completed around September.
The hotel rooms would include a lounge area, two bedrooms, a kitchen and laundry to enable people to stay for longer periods.
“We know that people have to stay in Atherton at times because they may have family in the hospital so it would be good for them to have a place where they can cook and so on, as well as those who are visiting the region for long periods of time,” Mr Sun said.
When the development was approved by Tablelands Regional in March 2022, Mayor Rod Marti described the project as “highly significant and setting a new benchmark for housing in the region”.
“The Nasser Road development would give further impetus to the very strong growth that the Tablelands is experiencing,” he said at the time.
He was also pleased the project would cater to much-needed medium and high-density housing options while also accommodating a tourism component.
“This ticks many of the boxes of our desired future housing offering to enable people to stay living in the region when they have outgrown the need for a larger family home or acreage,” he said.
The developers will pay $2.15 million to TRC in infrastructure charges.
