Plenty of projects planned & hoped for in the region as listed below.
I don’t know the timing of the projects, but there are some leads there for you to carry out research.
I don’t live there but have a residential investment property being built and nearing completion in Thuringowa – for Long term hold.

An extract from the Townsville Bulletin website, April 12
Townsville Building boom
MAJOR projects committed or on the drawing board:

* Stockland’s Waterway Gardens $1bn
* Tabcorp/Consolidated Properties Breakwater Quays $950m
* QNI Yabulu extension $630m
* Honeycombe’s Central (rail yards) project $260m
* Honeycombe’s Itara (Riverway) apartments $140m
* Jupiters Radical Bay resort $70m
* Ross River dam upgrade $115m
* AGL gas power station $350m
* TCC carbon neutral water recycling plant $100m
* Gordon Property’s Blue on Blue resort $120m
* Sunland’s Bushland Beach estate $75m
* Glen Alpine’s Riverside Ridge estate $100m
* Gordon Property’s Nautica apartments $75m
* PJ Group/Matrix Gateway on Palmer $75m
* Fortia Fund’s Dalgety project $65m
* Crackers Corporation’s Watermark $75m
* Cruise ship terminal $50m
* Hedley’s T1 towers $50m
* Reed Property’s Ramada Encore $50m
* Tennessee’s Ban Thai and Waterstone projects $40m
* Glen Alpine’s Solarus project $80m
* Castletown Shoppingworld upgrade $34m
* Thuringowa Riverway project $40m
* Hedley’s Rosslea unit project $30m
* Australian Technical College NQ $9m
* Sun Metals extension $650m
* Chalco alumina refinery $1.3b
* JCU residential project $250m
* JCU commercial project $40m
* Jezzine Barracks apartments n/a
* Riverway project hotel $40m
* V8 supercar project $8m
* JCU secondary college $20m
* Dive ship project $15m

Also in relation to a proposed new alumina refinery for Qld, there was this extract from the Townsville Bulletin website April 13

Resource rich city
By TONY RAGGATT
13apr06

“Labour and infrastructure give Townsville a good case to be selected as a preferred site for a $1.5 billion alumina refinery, Townsville Enterprise CEO Glenys Schuntner said yesterday.”

“The Aluminium Corporation of China (Chalco) is proposing the refinery plan, involving the mining and washing the raw bauxite at Aurukun on Cape York and transporting it to a refinery to be built at Townsville, Bowen or Gladstone.”

“Chalco is due to have its final proposal to the State Government by the end of May when it is expected an announcement will be made on a preferred site for the refinery.”

My fingers are crossed for it to happen of course!
Ralf