Complete history of Couran Cove, including list of issues and owners
Couran Cove was supposed to be the future of the Gold Coast – however for more than a decade it has been a mess. This is how heaven became hell.
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Couran Cove was supposed to be the future of the Gold Coast – an exclusive eco resort serving both tourists and its residents with incredible facilities away from the mainland.
The brainchild of champion runner and future Gold Coast mayor Ron Clarke, the resort was revealed to the public nearly 30 years ago with great fanfare and, for more than a decade, it became a must-visit location, with celebrities, international athletes and politicians all making the trip across the Broadwater.
But the past decade has seen the sheen come off.
In September 2021 it was revealed the shocking conditions residents of the resort had faced, including being without hot water and gas for cooking for two weeks after evacuation warnings about a major explosion that could damage buildings and “even kill”.
Needless to say, it’s not what Mr Clarke had hoped his resort would become known for when he unveiled it to the public in 1996.
HOW DID COURAN COVE START?
The $70m project was to be a 151ha resort including a 4ha harbour, 6ha lagoon on the Broadwater and a surf club on a 2km ocean frontage.
Mr Clarke said the resort would ultimately accommodate 1500 in a mixture of harbourside, residential and wilderness lodges.
He said it would be the “high-water mark of eco-tourism’’.
But despite its green credentials, Couran Cove was immediately controversial with the environmentalist movement.
The Australian Conservation Foundation insisted the resort threatened the island’s environment and warned they would blockade the site.
“If the activity is seen to be compromising the quality of the environment then we won’t hesitate in blockading the development,’’ group president Peter Farrell said.
“The community will need to show its outrage by rallying in the streets and holding public protests – we have more than 2000 people at this stage who are willing to take to the streets.’’
Mr Clarke dismissed the group, saying that its concerns were unfounded as developers had spent nearly $100,000 to ensure the environment remained “100 per cent pure’’.
Couran Cove opened in 1998 and was an immediate success, becoming a popular location for professional sport teams to visit and stay during training camps.
Its state-of-the-art athletics training facility was opened by US Olympics sprinting legend Carl Lewis.
Its residential component was also popular, recording $50m in sales across its 249 units, beach lodges and villas.
HOW DID COURAN COVE CHANGE OVER THE YEARS?
In 2000 the resort was home to several major teams visiting for the Sydney Olympics, including Britain’s track and field athletes.
Mr Clarke exited the resort and went on to become Gold Coast Mayor for eight years before his death in 2015.
But throughout the 2000s Couran Cove continued to go from strength to strength, winning multiple awards for its restaurants and eco-friendly features and attracting leading hospitality talent.
But the glitz began to wear off into the 2010s when multiple issues became public.
In 2011 the resort closed after its owner, US philanthropist Chuck Feeney ended his fiscal support forcing liquidators to be appointed.
“The resort has been operating at a considerable loss for a number of years and sadly, despite our best efforts, this is an unsustainable position for any business operation,’’ InterPacific Group said in a statement.
In 2012 it was bought for $150m by Brisbane businessman Craig Dowling who signed it up to the Ramada hotel chain.
But issues persisted over body corporate disputes and fees, leading Wyndham Hotel Group to withdraw the Ramada brand from the resort in late 2016 over “reputational concerns”.
HOW DOES COURAN COVE OPERATE?
Couran Cove is made up of a layered, complex body corporate scheme which has several small bodies corporate paying fees to an overall body and disputes were common.
A $100m revamp was announced by Eureka Group Holdings, which took over the management of the resort but this too failed, along with a plan to turn it into a retirement village.
Eureka abandoned the resort in late 2018 and it was sold in 2019 to EDG Capital.
The same year, tests by Gold Coast Health and the Gold Coast City Council in late 2019 found a “high level of iron and arsenic is right on the line” at the Couran Cove water treatment plant and recommended the resort implement a water risk management plan.
Subsequent investigations found the water safe to drink.
Trouble continued into 2020 when a power supplier threatened to cut the electricity, water and sewerage to more than 350 units at the resort unless $5.5m in debts were paid to two infrastructure companies.
WHO IS BEHIND THE RUNNING OF COURAN COVE?
The man at the centre of a years-long dispute, which culminated in hundreds of Couran Cove residents losing basic services, is an accountant with a long history with the troubled island.
It was revealed in March 2023 that Brisbane-born Lachlan McIntosh is a director of 25 companies, six of which own 94 South Stradbroke properties on the Gold Coast.
A drawn-out court saga over hefty body corporate debts in March 2023 revealed Mr McIntosh’s directorships give him effective control of the Couran Cove Island Resort Community Body Corporate (CBC) and its finances.
Those finances are at the centre of a stoush which has seen hundreds of residents lose power, water and gas, with dozens forced to leave.
The relationship between Mr McIntosh, 58, and the island goes at least as far back as 2015, when wealthy Gold Coast investor Glenn Molloy bought control of Couran Cove Resort from Craig Dowling.
WHAT HAS BEEN THE RECENT TIMELINE OF TURMOIL?
■ In November 2020 an investigation outlined all the allegations and issues with Couran Cove.
■ In September 2022 it was reported that the resort flop had become a residential hideaway where two-bedroom cabins within a short walk to a glorious surf beach were selling for $110,000.
A coalition of community groups led by Wellness Australia reclaimed more than 360 cabins, apartments and houses at Couran Cove on South Stradbroke and created a community described to me as a hippy colony for wrinkleys.
“It’s set up to be affordable for pensioners and people on limited wages,” said Wellness Australia chief Lachlan McIntosh.
■ In April 2023 threats to axe essential services to hundreds of homes ended in a whimper.
Power, water, gas and sewerage remained connected to a majority of Couran Cove Island Resort throughout the day, despite residents being told services would be cut from 10am.
Couran Cove Island Resort service provider Simon Napoli issued a statement just after 4pm saying services would instead be restricted from 4.30pm.
Mr Napoli said while essential services including power, water, gas and sewerage would be restricted to dwellings, some services would continue as normal.
■ In May 2023 the governing body corporate put forward a bold plan to appoint an external administrator to itself amid long-running disputes.
The Couran Cove Resort Community Body Corporate called for support for its motion to wind up the existing body corporate scheme and/or apply to appoint a receiver.
A notice for the meeting stated the proposal had been put forward in a bid to “restore services to residents and preserve the assets of the scheme and its members”.
■ In May 2023 residents formed a working bee to paint over a disturbing message.
The words “Philips dead man walking” was graffitied onto a shipping container at Couran Cove Island Resort, South Stradbroke Island, a week ago.
Couran Cove marine apartment chair Darren Philip believed the threat was directed towards him and reported it to police.
■ In May 2023 the besieged body corporate official provocatively swigged on a beer at a meeting where angry residents demanded he resign.
More than two dozen owners of properties on Couran Cove resort attended a meeting calling for body corporate chairman Darren Phillips to stand down.
Mr Phillips, who dialled into the meeting via Zoom, swigged from a schooner of beer in a move that heightened anger in the room.
■ On May 31, 2023 the strife-torn luxury island resort shut its doors ahead of essential services being totally cut over a bitter body corporate dispute.
Officials from the Couran Cove Island resort announced on social media the resort was “temporarily closed”.
“Due to a number of body corporate issues, including the redirection of levy moneys by a number of body corporate committees, the body corporates were unable to pay for essential services so (the) resort is temporarily closed,” the Facebook post said.
■ In June 2023 a court ordered the liquidation of a caretaking company at a troubled Gold Coast island community due to a giant debt to a water treatment and sewage operator.
The Supreme Court of Queensland made the order to appoint a liquidator to South Stradbroke Caretaking Services after water engineering firm Simmonds & Bristow applied for wind-up action over a $124,000 debt.
Simmonds & Bristow director David Bristow said his water engineering company began work on South Stradbroke Island in August 2019.
■ Residents of strife-torn Couran Cove where power and water have been cut off for months in December 2023 had salt rubbed into their wounds after being hit with a court order for tens of thousands of dollars.
The South Stradbroke Island resort had been wracked by a bitter body corporate dispute for over a year.
The dispute over alleged unpaid body corporate levies led to services including power, water and sewerage being switched off earlier this year.
The former five-star eco-resort closed its doors and many residents abandoned the island.
But about 50 stayed out, opting to live “off-grid” using generators, water pumps and solar panels.
■ Residents at Couran Cove Resort on South Stradbroke Island on November 1, 2024 believed their community was on the brink of disaster after a family pet was killed in a house fire the previous month.
Couran Cove Resort residents have spent 18 months without access to water, power and gas after a bitter body corporate dispute left the area without working fire hydrants.
Couran Cove Resort has a self-managed body corporate split into four subsidiary body corporates: Eco Lodges, Broadwater Villas, Lagoon Lodges and Marine Apartments.
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