Core Developments seeks to lift Denman Prospect site to 154 homes

Core Developments has lodged an amendment seeking to lift its approved Manoa Street development in Denman Prospect from 27 townhouses, approved in March 2024, to 154 apartments, The Urban Developer reported on 16 October 2026. The proposal is not yet approved; public comment on the amendment closes 2 November 2026.

Why it matters

Core’s amendment documents, cited by The Urban Developer, point to softer market demand for a higher-priced townhouse product as the reason behind weak pre-sales on the approved 27-home scheme. A company spokesperson told the outlet that most prospective buyers were leaning toward a standalone house at a comparable price point, rather than committing to the townhouse product approved in March 2024. That reasoning is the real story here: it is a live test of whether a feasibility reset, from lower-density townhouses to mid-rise apartments, can clear public comment and lease variation assessment in one of Denman Prospect’s newer release stages.

For Core, swapping the approved townhouses for apartments changes both the buyer it is building for and the cost base it is carrying. Apartments typically sell at a lower per-dwelling price than townhouses but at far higher density, so the amendment is effectively a bet that volume at a lower price point clears faster than a smaller run of premium townhouses did. Core’s documents also flag the lease variation charge tied to the uplift as a significant cost pressure on the project, a detail that matters to any other holder of an approved-but-unbuilt Crown lease in Denman Prospect now watching how the Territory treats a similar request.

Denman Prospect sits in the Molonglo Valley, one of the ACT’s newer Crown lease release areas, where a feasibility swing like this one tends to be watched closely by operators holding approved-but-unbuilt blocks nearby, since it signals how readily the Territory will entertain a townhouse-to-apartment rework once presales fall short.

The numbers

The amendment covers Core’s 7,543 sqm site on Manoa Street, where the approved scheme was for 27 townhouses. The new proposal, designed by Oztal Architects, would replace that approval with 154 apartments across three interconnected buildings of five and six storeys, lifting the dwelling count on the block more than fivefold. Public comment on the change closes 2 November 2026, after which the amendment moves to Territory Plan assessment. For context, RLB’s Q3 2026 index counted 28 cranes across Canberra, 14 of them on residential sites.

What’s next

If the amendment is accepted, Core’s three apartment buildings would be a marker for how planning authorities weigh a presales-driven downgrade from townhouses to apartments elsewhere in the Molonglo Valley. The case adds to a run of DA activity in Canberra this month: Peet lodged a separate application for 128 townhouses in the first stage of its Onderra estate in Bruce, a reminder that higher-density housing proposals are moving through the Territory’s approval pipeline in parallel suburbs at the same time. For Core, the lease variation charge tied to the extra 127 dwellings remains the open cost variable until that assessment is complete, and until public comment closes on 2 November the scale of the uplift is still proposed, not settled.