Scott Elliott, Palm Lake Group Managing Director, has more than 10,000 people living in his 24 resorts but he knows that thousands more people aged over 50 want to join them.
Brand new resorts at Pelican Waters (322 homes), a suburb of Caloundra in Queensland’s Sunshine Coast, Yamba Cove (78 houses) at Yamba, in the NSW Northern Rivers, and the Gippsland resort town of Paynesville (195 homes), 293km east of Melbourne, are going up and construction is continuing at Forster Lakes (almost 400 homes) in the NSW Mid North Coast.
Another 116 homes will be added to its existing resort at Bargara, in Queensland’s Bundaberg region, which will make it the largest resort in the Palm Lake Group, with over 600 homes in total.
And Palm Lake Group is now working though masterplans for two new land lease ventures in Zilzie (pictured below), a 27ha site for over 300 homes on the Capricorn Coast, 685km north northwest of Brisbane, and Dundowran (main photo) (a suburb of Hervey Bay, 290km north of Brisbane), with up to 500 homes on 40ha and 550 homes are being planned for Old Bar Beach, the coastal town 16km east of Taree in the NSW Mid North Coast.
Palm Lake Care also has future residential aged care facilities planned at Cooroy and Forster, co-located with resorts, in the planning phase.
Pelican Waters (pictured above), the third biggest land lease provider in the nation, has earmarked Pelican Waters as its flagship resort with 332 homes in total. The country club being built at the site is costing over $40 million and with a floor space of more than 6,000msq, is the largest the land lease sector has seen.
Scott said his dad Walter, now in his eighties, is still very much plugged into the running of the family business and he often gets around to their various resort locations to keep an eye on things.
“One thing Wal is, is considerate. He thinks about people. And he cares about people. While my Dad is all about putting a personal touch on things and would love to be personally involved in every aspect of this business, it’s physically impossible nowadays given the size of the operation. Instead, we work hard to recruit a loyal team of managers who can lead their respective teams with the same kind of gusto that 1970s’ Walter brought,” said Scott.
The SOURCE: Land lease operators buy land to develop and now have the experience to cash in on it