Woolworths underpins Coolbellup project

Woolworths is understood to have finalised a deal to open a new supermarket in the southern suburb of Coolbellup, which will underpin a $65 million apartment development at the former Coolbellup Hotel site.

The development, pitched by Tony Buhagiar and Matthew Carr’s Urban Capital Group, has been in the works since 2012 and was originally intended as a 150-apartment development on the 1.5-hectare site.

Urban Capital Group, which also counts Mr Carr’s brother, Josh, and former Fremantle Dockers teammate Brad Dodd as directors, was given the green light for the project by the metropolitan south west development assessment panel in late 2013.

Business News understands the project has been scaled back to reflect current market conditions, after the proponents were only able to secure around 40 per cent pre-sales for the apartments.

The Woolworths supermarket will be around 3,200 square metres, while the apartment component is expected to comprise 75 dwellings.

As part of the deal, Woolworths has assumed ownership of the existing Thirsty Camel liquor store, which is adjacent to the development site, and was previously owned by an entity associated with Mr Buhagiar.

The bottle shop will rebranded as part of Woolworths’ BWS network.