Melbourne developer Oreana has seen the potential in Queensland’s strong fundamentals and has taken on its first land subdivision project in the state.
Oreana, founded by Tony Sass and his brother Steven in 1999, has until recently focused on the Victorian market, specialising in land subdivision and townhouses as well as developing childcare and early learning centres.
Now, Oreana is making its move into Queensland with a land subdivision for 250 homes at Morayfield, a 50-minute drive north of the Brisbane CBD in Moreton Bay city.
The developer acquired the 21ha site at 281-323 Petersen Road and 13-37 J Dobson Road to kickstart its launch into Queensland, where it is setting up a permanent office.
“We wanted to hit the ground running and this site has already got DA approval, we want to turn soil and get sites out of the ground as soon as possible,” Tony Sass told The Urban Developer.
“We like the location, it’s between Brisbane and Sunshine Coast and it’s not a huge site but it’s also attached to a 4ha park and infrastructure.”
While Oreana is vertically integrated in Melbourne, the developer is taking the process more slowly in Queensland, given that the subdivision will not require full construction services.
“We’re speaking to civil contractors to get it off the ground next year. Back in Melbourne we’re fully integrated for the construction of our homes, townhomes, neighbourhood activity and early learning centres.
“In Queensland our initial strategy is focusing on land subdivision and when we start to build that pipeline we will look to get a construction team up there.”
Sass said the development and strategy in Queensland was a progression of its learnings from Victoria.
“Queensland was an extension of our understanding of the growth corridors, understanding the fundamentals of those corridors which is population growth, we believe in the population growth and taking our experience in Melbourne to SEQ,” he said.
“The business has been in Melbourne for over 20 years now.
“We understand those growth areas well and we’ve been developing in those spaces.”
Despite that experience, Queensland proved a hard nut to crack.
“We have been looking at South-East Queensland and trying to break into that market in those growth corridors for three years,” Sass said.
“We realised that instead of trying to attack SEQ from Melbourne, let’s plant a flag and get some boots on the ground and open an office there.”
Oreana’s Fortitude Valley offices will be complete in coming weeks.
Oreana’s expansion is not limited to Queensland—it has also launched childcare projects in Western Australia.
“It’s been a part of a broader strategy to become a national developer, we have a few childcare and retail in WA, and a couple of childcare dvelopments in Sydney, but the greenfield market in SEQ especially matches our fundamentals,” Sass said.
“Our strategy over the next three years is to build a pipeline in Queensland to deliver 300 land lots a year, and from there we will move into townhouses, neighbourhood and early learning centres.”
