Display apartment being built on Summer Street to promote new 80-residence development

June 7, 2022

A rendering of the apartment block (subject to change). Supplied.t's imp

By Peter Holmes

A display apartment will be built on Summer Street over coming weeks to promote a new 80-residence development.

The campaign to sell a total of 80 new apartments and townhouses at 103 Prince Street in Orange has begun, and the display apartment will likely be opened in mid-July.

It will be constructed in the long vacant former Orange Bakehouse site next to the Commonwealth Bank.

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The 10,690-square-metre site at 103 Prince Street, next to the Department of Planning, Industry and Environment (DPIE) offices, will be developed in two stages.

The vacant site at 103 Prince Street. Copyright: Orange News Examiner.

The first stage will see the construction of 17 townhouses, and the second the building of a 63-apartment residential block and a public park recreation area.

[Orange City Council had stated in September 2021 there would be 15 townhouses and 61 apartments].

Orange City Council announced in September last year it had reached an agreement with Dubbo-based Maas Group Properties for the sale of the west end of the former Orange Base Hospital site.

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The Australian Financial Review estimated last year that Wes Maas, the founder of the company, was worth $923 million.

A rendering of the townhouses (subject to change). Supplied.

Council stated: "The agreement will deliver a high quality medium density residential development in line with the Development Control Plan for the site."

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It estimated the townhouses on the northern side of the site would be built by 2024 and the apartments on the southern side by 2025.

It anticipated 80 new jobs would be created.

At the time of the announcement, former Orange deputy mayor, the late Glenn Taylor, said that while Orange was "really good at providing family homes ... what is lacking are other options like apartments and townhouses, which are starting to be developed in regional cities across the country".

The development site at 103 Prince Street. Copyright: Orange News Examiner.

According to NSW government planning details, the "capital investment value" of the project was $26,074,105.

The project is yet to receive final approval and is listed as "under assessment".

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While it is possible for developers to sell off-the-plan properties that haven't been approved, it is believed Maas Group will wait for final approval.

It is not known if inflationary pressures caused by the Covid pandemic, flooding on the Australian east coast and the war in Ukraine will alter the budget for the build.

The design of the development from an aerial perspective (subject to change). Supplied.

Ben Small, from property sales, marketing and management company Urban Activation, is working with Maas Group on 103 Prince Street.

He said off-the-plan prices for the properties hadn't been finalised.

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Council have released renderings of the buildings on the site, but these are also subject to change.

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