A vision 10 years in the making looks set to come to fruition following the release of plans for another set of residential and serviced apartments in the city’s CBD.
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Just days after fellow developers Kim Williams and Maas Group Family Properties unveiled plans for developments in Macquarie Street, John Walkom released details for a similar construction in Church Street.
Overlooking the Macquarie River the development, which is slated to cost about $28 million, will service Dubbo’s growing tourism, business and conference needs.
It will feature 26 residential and 61 serviced apartments.
“It was 2007 when I drove down Bligh Street one day and saw the ‘For Auction’ sign out the front of this building, and the auction was to take place in four days time,” Mr Walkom said.
“I turned up and bought the site with a view to do what we’re announcing now, which is build residential apartments and serviced units.
“We think the time is right. We’ve been researching for two years what the market needs and who in the market would want to buy apartments.”
With each of the recently-announced developments featuring different facets, Mr Walkom said there is room for the city to absorb all three into the market.
He added that such projects show a great confidence in Dubbo and the wider western region.
“There’s a lot of planning gone into these projects. It’s not something where we’ve all woken up one morning and said ‘this is what we’re going to do’,” Mr Walkom said.
“There’s a lot of work, and it reinforces that confidence in the region. Once you have that confidence it certainly makes it a lot easier.
“I think Dubbo can sustain it. If you look there’s 75 units in first stage of all the developments, and there’s a strong need for serviced apartments.”
A development application for the project is expected to be lodged with Dubbo Regional Council in the near future.
But Mr Walkom reiterated there is no need for units to be sold prior to the demolition of the current site and construction starting.
“Our architect and consultants have been working on this for three months and it will be lodged by end of the month,” he said.
“We’ll go through the process, and hopefully formal approval will come in the first quarter of next year.”