The village of Tea Gardens to the north of Port Stephens could be transformed under a plan to add 935 new homes in a master-planned community on the edge of town.
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Plans on exhibition with MidCoast Council until January 14 show developer Sheargold wants to build 725 residential lots in a 16-stage community-title subdivision between Tea Gardens Road and the Myall River.
Parry's Cove, as the development has been named, would include a mixed-use community hall, wellness centre with a 25-metre indoor pool, recreation facilities like tennis courts, and a variety of outdoor spaces.
The project has a capital investment value of more than $96.5 million.
If approved, the estate will be marketed to young families working in the Lower Hunter in the hope they will relocate, but retirees are still expected to form the bulk of buyers.
Sheargold managing director Michael Sheargold, who spoke to the Newcastle Herald while holidaying in the riverside town, said the development would be "transformative" for the area.
"Hopefully it's transformative in a good way," he said.
"There's a whole bunch of economic benefits that will flow over the life of the project, which we expect to be about eight to 10 years.
We hope it will leave a legacy for the town in terms of a younger demographic, more facilities [and] more jobs, without altering things people love about the area.
- Michael Sheargold
The 935 dwellings are almost two-thirds as many as the 1633 homes in the suburb at the 2016 Census. They would likely add at least 1800 residents to the population of about 2900 people.
Local resident Gordon Grainger said a development of such scale had been on the horizon for many years.
"We are going to develop," he said. "We're two-and-a-half hours from Sydney and an hour from Newcastle and the coalfields. It's going to be happen, but it's got to happen in a good fashion."
The site previously had concept approval for a residential and tourist development comprising 880 lots, but this was revised last May. The state's planning department granted the initial approval in 2013.
The subject land, which is mostly vacant and used for cattle grazing, is zoned part Low Density Residential, Mixed Use, Tourist and Environmental Management.
It comprises of a combination of cleared lands and remnant vegetation identified as potential habitat for four endangered ecological communities and koala and wallum froglet habitat, according to a statement of environmental effects.
The eastern portion of the site contains a coastal wetland, which forms part of 117.8 hectares of land to be dedicated for conservation.
Mr Sheargold said in planning the estate over five years, the company had tried to "maintain what people love" about the area and bring "the sorts of benefits that can come from investment and development over the course of the project".
He said the subdivision's design and facilities would appeal to those wanting to pursue an "active lifestyle" and "healthy well-being".
A series of shared paths link the estate and adjoin to surrounding roads.
Mr Sheargold said it was too early to be sure of expected land sale prices, but he hoped lots would start at about $190,000 with an average of $220,000 to $250,000.
"Tea Gardens isn't south-west Sydney, so we don't expect to be selling hundreds of lots per year," he said.
"We think, maybe 80 to 100 lots a year is a realistic target over the course of the project.
"We know that retirees will form a part, and probably a majority of our market, but we've been working on different things we can do and different areas we can market into.
"We think the Defence jobs out of Williamtown will be an attractive proposition, because it's a 35 to 40-minute run down to the base there and [Tea Gardens] is a good place to raise a family."
If approved, the development is expected to generate 1841 construction jobs over ten years with an additional 704 local resident jobs and total output of $774 million to the economy, an economic impact statement provided with the DA says.
The name of Parry's Cove is a nod to the history of the district inspired by William Edward Parry and his wife, Isabella Louisa Parry, who settled in the area and contributed to the growth of the community.
The development will likely be considered by the Hunter and Central Coast Regional Planning Panel in the first half of this year.
Sheargold is a family-owned and run company which has developed land all along the NSW coast over a number of decades.
