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LONDON: A private hospital and health precinct is to be incorporated into a shopping centre within a seniors housing community.

A $1.5bn private hospital and health precinct will be built next to a major shopping centre in the sector’s largest investment in a decade.

Joint venture partners Keylin and Kinstone Group have lodged plans with the Gold Coast City Council for Foxwell Coomera, a $700m, 400-bed, 60,000sq m state-of-the-art hospital, which will be built as part of the masterplan.

No operator for the hospital has been announced.

The Gold Coast University Hospital has 750 beds.

Plans will be lodged later this week for further stages of the masterplan, which will transform the 47.7ha site on Foxwell Road next to Westfield Coomera.

They will include dining and business precincts and retail offerings. The entire project will cost $1.5bn.

Keylin managing director Louis Cheung said the fast-growing northern Gold Coast suburbs needed more medical services.

“Foxwell Coomera offers a unique opportunity to embed itself as a connected community of integrated lifestyle, health, wellness, and business experiences,” Mr Cheung said.

“We have engaged with Australia’s leading architects and hospital advisory firms to design a masterplan that delivers the region’s first comprehensive private hospital, with future stages to include campus-style allied health care, outpatient facilities, imaging, rehabilitation, and wellness services.

“We are also advancing concepts to support the inclusion of a swim school, childcare facilities, and family-focused recreation services with a strong focus on lifestyle and wellbeing.”

Kinstone Group director Tommy Hung said Foxwell Coomera would complement the state government’s planned public hospital rather than compete with it.

“The proposed private hospital complements the state government’s plans to deliver the northern Gold Coast’s first public hospital in Coomera, one of the fastest-growing regions in Australia,” he said.

“The scale of Foxwell Coomera, and its proximity to Coomera Train Station and the M1, presents an opportunity to explore how health and wellness can coexist with future-focused commercial and residential spaces, as part of a truly connected community.

“The proposed private hospital is located on cleared land at the intersection of two new roads, Creek Road South and Wellness Way, enabling construction of the facility to be fast-tracked.”

The state government announced plansin October 2020 for its own public hospital and health precinct as part of a $160m state government election commitment.

The new Coomera Hospital is planned for a government-owned 13.52ha site on George Alexander Way.

However, the project has been beset by issues, including its location being an existing koala habitat.

The Bulletin revealed in mid-2021 that up to four koalas were living on the site requiring a financial settlement of up to $3.1m

At the time it was revealed the state government would need to capture the animals and find a suitable future home, with Planit Consulting estimating the translocation would cost $6480 along with $50,000 to $100,000 for ongoing monitoring.

When completing an ecological assessment on the 13.5ha site at 41 George Alexander Way, bound by the Coomera railway station to the west and south, consultants concluded a referral under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 may not be necessary.

Initial desktop assessments identified the following threatened species – 20 flora, 28 fauna, 17 migratory, 24 marine, and two ecological communities.