Andrews Projects unwraps plans for Dune Main Beach

A Kiwi-born carpenter turned high-rise developer and his group have emerged as the mystery parties behind a very much under-the-wraps beachfront deal.

DANNY Andrews, a Kiwi-born carpenter turned high-rise developer and his group have emerged as the mystery parties behind a very much under-the-wraps beachfront deal. Three months or so ago a sold sticker appeared on a for-sale sign in front of a long-in-the-tooth Main Beach low-rise, Poppas.

The agent who handled the sale, Ray White Commercial’s Michael Willems, and the seller, investor and private lender Steve Anderson, both have been rigidly stumm over the identity of the buyer. Now the cat’s out of the bag, thanks to the city council’s development approvals system.

Dune Main Beach, a company controlled by the Andrews family’s Andrews Projects Group, has emerged to show its hand. It wants to modify an approval Steve achieved last year for an ultra-posh tower slap bang next to what is the city’s most exclusive apartment building, the Ocean Isles.

The venture will mark a tower first on an absolute beachfront site for the 58-year-old Danny, who set up a family development company in 2003. The early Andrews focus largely was on up-market houses and took in ventures at Main Beach and Paradise Waters and also on Hope Island.

The Andrews output included a four-bedroom beauty overlooking the private Adams Basin on the Isle of Capri, a home that initially was marketed but today remains in Andrews hands. The family’s appetite for apartment projects initially involved Southport, with ventures such as Allegra and Metro 88.

Latterly the family’s focus firmly has been on Broadbeach, with its debut tower in the suburb, the 25-level Vue, selling out two months before completion. Broadbeach high-rise No.2, Encore, is under way but the developer’s plans for a follow-up have not had a smooth journey.

Old Burleigh Rd project the 18-storey Sands, a foray into single-floor apartments, has met with resistance from neighbours and Andrews Projects is awaiting the outcome of a re-cast development application. The planned Main Beach venture is for single-floor apartments and also includes a spot of re-casting. In this case, it’s the approval gained by site seller Steve that the Andrews family is wanting to alter.

Steve bought Poppas, which is on a 607sq m site, for $7.8 million in 2017 and went on to gain the green light for a 14-storey tower with six three-bedroom apartments. Under Danny’s plan for the site, which could be costing his group $10.5 million or so, there would be no change to the tower’s height but the number of floors would rise to 16. This would be achieved by reducing ceiling heights by 0.4 metres on each floor.

The number of apartments would rise by five to 11 but floor areas of the typical ones would decrease by some 245sq m. Of course, with more apartments, more parking is needed so the Andrews team would dig a bit deeper and have three basements rather than two.

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