Keylin Hits Sweet Spot as Gold Coast Booms

Keylin Group is well advanced on a $650-million townhouse project on the northern Gold Coast that it hopes will tap the widening demand for new dwelling types in established areas.

Keylin, alongside joint venture partners Kinstone Developments, is close to delivering the first estate, Serenity Green, on a peninsula bounded by Lake Serenity, Coombabah Lakelands conservation area and Saltwater Creek.

The 60-townhouse development forms part of a broader masterplan, known as Serenity 4212, one of the largest waterfront projects under way on the Gold Coast.

The masterplan is being built across a narrow 65ha site in the Hope Island and Helensvale areas, about 50km south of Brisbane.

Keylin Group bought the site from Malaysian developers Sime Darby and Brunsfield for $50 million in late 2019 after Sime Darby undertook a global strategy to sell non-core assets from places such as Singapore, Vietnam and Australia. 

Keylin Group director Louis Cheung told The Urban Developer the vacant site, which has 15ha of developable land, had been purchased with historical planning approvals as well as $25 million in earthworks by the previous owners.

Cheung will be among speakers at The Urban Developer’s Residential Greenfield vSummit on Thursday, July 28. 

▲ The three estates will be bounded by mature trees and greenery of the neighbouring parkland and reserve.

“There was a stigma [prior to our purchase] associated with the site that it would never progress,” Cheung said.  

“After sitting abandoned for several years under the previous developer, rebuilding confidence in the local market was key to the project’s acceptance and the sales campaign success.

“We saw an opportunity to communicate a more sustainable, sensitive design approach that would result in less density on the site and a better community outcome.

“Following a rebranding and masterplanning process, involving extensive community engagement and communication we now have three estates that will embrace modern architecture, natural light and space to provide a resort-style lifestyle.”

Each of Serenity Green’s 60 townhouses will feature four bedrooms, two bathrooms and two car garages as well as open-plan living spaces, quality finishings and landscaped gardens.  

Since the project’s launch in 2020, the masterplanned development has released three communities, Serenity Green, Serenity Waters and Serenity Reserve; all of which have achieved sell-out success with future releases planned. 

Both townhome developments; Serenity Green and Serenity Reserve are under construction. 

Established in 2005, Keylin has a reputation for developing apartment, townhouse and commercial developments in Brisbane and the Gold Coast.

The developer has played a major role in transforming central Hope Island on the northern Gold Coast over the past four years, developing almost $100 million in residential projects.

Cheung said that over the years Keylin had remained focused on delivering architecturally led residential products that met the investment needs of growing families, savvy couples and discerning retirees as well as the broader communities in which it built.

▲ Serenity Green will be the masterplan’s first townhomes and will include 60 large four-bed, two-bath, two-car architectural homes.

Its next estate, Serenity Waters, best articulates this approach. Despite inheriting the site with approvals for 350 lots, Keylin opted for a proactive community engagement campaign and revised plan that better responded to local context, delivering subdivision of just 110 lots, well below the permitted density.

Serenity Waters will also include three community parks, a community pontoon, a loch providing boat access from Lake Serenity to the Gold Coast Broadwater and extensive landscaping and rehabilitation of covenant areas adjoining the Coombabah Lakelands Conservation Area.

The developer is also using sandstone blocks for the estate’s sculptural entryway, a coastal inspired material it said referenced the site’s proximity to the coast.

“​​All homes in Serenity Green and Serenity Waters sold off the plan prior to construction commencing, however, the project was launched during the pandemic so sales uptake was slow at first,” Cheung said.    

“In keeping with recent trends on the Gold Coast, the buyer demographic reflects a mix of local and interstate purchasers, most of whom are owner-occupiers.” 

The masterplan’s third estate, Serenity Reserve, will comprise 83 four bedrooms and two bathroom townhomes designed by architectural firm DBI with Modulus Architecture.

It will sit next to a dedicated natural reserve community park, part of 27ha being gifted by Keylin to the city council.

Cheung will present a case study-led presentation on Serenity Green at the Residential Greenfield Development vSummit.

The vSummit will include a keynote presentation by Research4 director Colin Keane as well as more than 15 industry experts to discuss the latest research and perspective on the current state of greenfield development and its outlook for the future. 

To register for the event, click here.