Work is well under way at Limestone Estate, a $50m housing development spanning more than 30 hectares on the outskirts of Mount Gambier, with strong buyer interest coming from interstate.

The 350-allotment housing estate is bordered by Suttontown Road and Pinehall Avenue and is minutes from the city’s TAFE and university precincts.

Limestone Estate is being developed by Pardeep “Parry” Kumar who is hopeful titles for stage one and two of the 15-stage development will be ready by February next year after a slight delay due to weather and other circumstances.

The first two stages comprise 35 homes, 23 of which are already under contract, and Mr Kumar believes the development will inject more than $3m into the local economy.

Mr Kumar said the subdivision is set to include a childcare, retail spaces and a medical centre.

“We got a planning permit for one of the childcare sites within the estate, it is next to Suttontown Primary School on Pinehall Avenue and we have launched a planning permit for a consulting room and four to five shops on the right side of Federation Drive in Suttontown,” he said.

“Once it’s built the childcare facility is not only for this estate, but people will also get the benefit from other estates or other communities around this area so we are definitely very happy with the progress and the support from council.

“All the surfaces have been laid down so the major works which are remaining are to install the street lighting and seal the road which will hopefully be done by the end of November.

“You may see some housing starting to be built from March next year and then we are straight away moving to stage three and four.

“We are building three display homes right on the edge of Suttontown Road and Federation Drive so it will be built under the banner of Limestone Estate and Versace Home Builders.”

Mr Kumar said he found there was a need for a childcare centre in Suttontown after his own personal experiences as a parent and community consultation.

“When I moved to this town back in 2013, I had a young one who was three-years-old at the time and I had a lot of issues finding a rental property and finding a childcare for him at that time and the situation has gotten worse in the last two to three years especially post COVID,” he said.

“When we did a bit of community consultation, we got some feedback from the community that we need a childcare facility across this part of the town.

“Most of the childcares are concentrated in the city fringe area and if you’re talking about the western side there’s not many.

“The feedback that we got even from council as well was they need a childcare to be happening around the Suttontown area.”

Mr Kumar said an estimated 350 families will be moving into the estate in the next five to seven years, most of whom will be young families from interstate or intrastate.

“Most of these families will be young families because as you can see the town is growing spontaneously in the last couple of years, there are lots of migrant families, there are a lot of people moving here from Melbourne and Adelaide,” he said.

“The first thing they need when they move to town is a house, they literally need a roof over their head so that’s what we’re expecting is most of the families who are moving to Limestone Estate are young families with young kids and they will need these sorts of services like childcare.

“They need a pizza shop, they need consulting rooms, they need a new childcare, they need a convenience store so we have listened and that’s what we are trying to deliver.

“This will give more connectivity and more amenities to anyone who is living in this estate.

“We want to deliver an estate which caters to the needs of the community rather than just building another estate, the whole idea is to keep communities and trust at the forefront.

“It’s always about give and take, this town has given a lot to me and a lot to my team so this is now our turn to deliver something for the town.”

Mr Kumar said he hopes the estate will aid in the current rental crisis amid the rising population of the town.

“After COVID it has become a problem because what I can see is the population was around 25,000 but I am hearing at this stage the population is about 33,000,” he said.

“A census has not been done but we can see the town is getting busier.

“Definitely the population is growing so we need more facilities and more housing so that’s what we are trying to do.

“Nobody should be sleeping in tents, nobody should be sleeping in caravans, they need a home and that’s why we have listened to the community, and we made the decision early last year to build this estate for the people of Mount Gambier.”