Planning authorities have approved a 148-unit residential development at Merewether golf course.
Developer ThirdAge says it plans to start work in mid-2022 after the Hunter and Central Coast Regional Planning Panel gave the green light to the seniors living project late last week.
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The redevelopment includes demolishing and rebuilding the Merewether clubhouse and erecting a six-storey residential complex across four buildings.
The project, to be known as The Merewether, will include changes to the course to accommodate the new buildings.
The club will enter into a 99-year lease with ThirdAge, which is a collaboration between Sydney-based Thirdi Group and former Lendlease and Stockland retirement living executive Michael Eggington.
The "luxury" one-, two-, and three-bedroom apartments will include 16 penthouses with roof-top spa terraces.
The complex will include a lap pool, cinema, gym, workshop, communal kitchen, craft rooms and a "wellness centre".
Thirdi hopes to complete construction by mid-2024.
Golf club president Phil Merrigan said the project would help secure the club's long-term financial future and fund "significant investment" in the course.
The course would "remain for members, community golfers and visitors to the region to enjoy", he said.
"We have been able to realise our vision of a world-class golfing facility and retirement living precinct without having to reduce the size of the course," he said.
Merewether is one of many Hunter golf clubs to contemplate joint ventures with residential property developers to help their bottom line.
The club has started preparing temporary changes to the course layout to allow demolition and building work to start.
It will operate from a temporary clubhouse until the new building is finished.
Mr Merrigan said Merewether would remain as an 18-hole course during the construction.
Thirdi is the company behind the West, Eaton on Union and Stella on Hannell apartments in Wickham.
The planning panel said the redevelopment was of appropriate scale and character for the site and would add to housing diversity and choice in the area.
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It said community concerns about parking, traffic and noise had been adequately addressed in assessment reports on the project's development application.
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Michael Parris
Michael Parris reports on politics for the Newcastle Herald. He started at the Herald in 1994 after working in the ABC Newcastle newsroom. Michael spent much of his career as a sub-editor before moving into political reporting in 2017. He was a finalist in the Sports Australia national media awards for his reporting about a male-only tennis club in Newcastle. He has reported on the 2019 NSW and federal elections, state and federal budgets and local politics. He has also written extensively about the COVID-19 pandemic with a special focus on data analysis and the effects of lockdowns on the Hunter community.
Michael Parris reports on politics for the Newcastle Herald. He started at the Herald in 1994 after working in the ABC Newcastle newsroom. Michael spent much of his career as a sub-editor before moving into political reporting in 2017. He was a finalist in the Sports Australia national media awards for his reporting about a male-only tennis club in Newcastle. He has reported on the 2019 NSW and federal elections, state and federal budgets and local politics. He has also written extensively about the COVID-19 pandemic with a special focus on data analysis and the effects of lockdowns on the Hunter community.
