With residents beginning to call Marbella Beachside home, I see the project as a strong example of what can happen when development strategy is grounded in market demand, commercial feasibility and a clear understanding of the eventual buyer.
The project is now completely sold out, with every residence secured approximately 12 months before construction was completed.
But the Marbella Beachside you see today was not the original development proposed for the site.
I first became involved with the property approximately four and a half years ago, long before the current development had taken shape.
What followed was a process of reassessing the opportunity, challenging the original assumptions and ultimately helping shape a product that worked commercially for the developer and resonated strongly with the market.
Before Marbella, there was an opportunity.
I first became involved with the Scarborough property when I listed the site and presented it to a number of prospective developers.
One of those developers ultimately acquired the property and began working with a builder through a design and construct process to determine what could be delivered on the site.
Considerable time and capital went into developing the initial scheme. But as the design progressed and the numbers were tested, it became clear that the proposed development did not stack up commercially.
It is a situation many developers know well.
A site can hold significant potential, but the development still needs to reconcile construction costs, planning outcomes, achievable pricing, buyer demand and the commercial return required to justify proceeding.
Rather than continuing with a concept that was becoming increasingly difficult to support, the developer came back to us with a more fundamental question:
What kind of development would respond to market demand and deliver the required commercial return?
Going back to the market.
Rather than starting with what could be built, we started by asking what the market was missing.
We analysed competing projects in the area, existing product, buyer demand and achievable price points to identify where a genuine opportunity existed.
The objective was not simply to maximise the number of dwellings on the site. It was to determine the product that could create the greatest value while responding to a clear area of market demand.
That distinction is critical.
Development feasibility should not be viewed purely as a construction or planning exercise. What can physically be built on a site and what the market is prepared to pay for are two very different questions.
Through that process, we identified strong demand for larger, premium homes, particularly from buyers looking to downsize without compromising on space, amenity or lifestyle.
At the same time, there was limited supply catering to that segment of the market, and that gap helped shift the direction of the development.
The strategy that became Marbella.
The opportunity emerged to create a boutique collection of 18 terrace homes rather than continue with the previous development concept.
The revised strategy gave us a way to respond more directly to the market we had identified, while creating a premium residential product suited to its coastal Scarborough location.
For the developer, this was more than a change in architectural direction. It meant repositioning the entire development around market demand, limited supply and achievable price points.
The developer chose to move forward with the new approach, and that strategy ultimately became Marbella Beachside.
For me, Marbella is a strong reminder that maximising site yield does not always deliver the strongest commercial outcome.
In some cases, greater value comes from delivering fewer residences that better align with buyer demand and achieve the right price.
Carrying the strategy through to market.
Determining the right product was only the beginning.
To bring an off-the-plan project to market successfully, the strategy we established during feasibility and product planning needed to carry through to positioning, pricing, marketing and sales.
Those disciplines cannot operate independently.
For Marbella Beachside, we stayed involved through the sales and marketing campaign to ensure the project was taken to market in a way that reflected the strategy behind the development itself.
The positioning spoke directly to what we had identified from the outset: buyers looking to downsize without compromise, with the space to accommodate family and a lifestyle that kept the city and beach within easy reach.
Ready to take your project to market?
Selling the vision before it was built.
One of the challenges with off-the-plan development is helping buyers understand a home they cannot yet physically walk through.
With premium product, that confidence becomes even more important.
For Marbella Beachside, we incorporated Virtual Reality into the project marketing strategy, giving prospective purchasers the ability to move through a life-sized, accurately scaled terrace home before construction was complete.
Rather than relying solely on floorplans and renders, buyers could experience the proportions of each room, step onto the balcony, take in the ocean views and see the proposed finishes in detail. It gave them a much clearer sense of what their future home could feel like and helped build both confidence and an emotional connection to the product.
For us, technology like VR is most valuable when it solves a genuine sales challenge. Used well, it can reduce uncertainty and give the sales team a much stronger way to communicate the value of a product that does not yet exist.
In Marbella’s case, the VR experience formed part of a broader sales strategy designed to give purchasers greater confidence well before they could physically walk through the completed development.
A project that stacked up and sold out.
By combining our strategic development advisory from the outset with an integrated sales and marketing campaign, every Marbella residence was sold approximately 12 months before construction reached completion.
For me, the significance of that outcome goes beyond the sell-out result.
Marbella began with a development concept that, despite considerable work and investment, did not achieve the required feasibility. Rather than forcing the original scheme forward, we went back to the fundamentals: market demand, buyer needs, achievable pricing and commercial return.
That process reshaped the development into a product the market wanted and a project that stacked up financially for the developer.
Marbella Beachside is a strong example of why I believe developers benefit from involving the right development partner early, before key decisions around product, design, pricing and positioning become difficult or costly to change.
Our approach to development advisory is about more than determining what can be built. It is about understanding what should be built, who it is being built for, what the market will pay and how every stage of the project can work together to achieve the strongest possible commercial outcome.
Partner with Jones and take your development from concept to sold out.
