A $208 million house and land development will be built on a 198ha site at Mount Cotton following its acquisition by Villa World for more than $30 million.

The deal also includes the purchase of a small shopping centre which the group intends to refurbish and will consider placing in the MFS Diversified Group property trust.

Villa World announced it was merging with MFS Diversified Group (MFT) earlier this year to create a massive integrated property group.

The Mount Cotton acquisition will bring Villa World's project pipeline value up to $1.3 billion.

Villa World CEO Brent Hailey said yesterday he had had his eye on the Mount Cotton site for some years and it had taken 12 months to negotiate the deal.

The land in Mount Cotton Village was bought in an off market transaction from Bayview Country Club.

Mr Hailey said the previous owners had developed between 800 and 900 homes in the village and had entered into a joint venture with another developer to deliver more properties.

The portion of the development bought by Villa World will be rebranded and should ultimately deliver 539 allotments.

"It was one of the few remaining (parcels of land) of that size," Mr Hailey said. "There is very little land left in the Redlands as we all know."

As the land is within the Koala Coast region Mr Hailey said there would be a number of restrictions on what they could build and housing design would take that into consideration.

"There is an operational works application at Redlands Council now," Mr Hailey said.

It is hoped settlement of the site will take place in 30 days and that construction will start in the coming months.

The site will also undergo extensive landscaping improvements before it is rebranded and relaunched as a Villa World development.

Villa World marketing and sales manager Dean McMahon said the group intended to inject a lot of time and money into revitalising the estate.

"The topography of the site also means that we'll be able to build a diverse range of housing designs including our very popular new range of split level homes," he said.

The shopping centre was included in the deal as it was too difficult to split from the parcel of land Villa World bought.

It is the first shopping centre acquisition for Villa World.

Prime Site
Brisbane Courier Mail
Friday Sept 8, 2006