Bruce Bishop: Surfers Paradise carpark revealed as Gold Coast’s worst performing, with music venue set to go ahead
New data has revealed the Gold Coast’s worst-performing public carpark, with just one-fifth of its spaces actually used each day. FIND OUT WHY
Gold Coast
Don't miss out on the headlines from Gold Coast. Followed categories will be added to My News.
The Surfers Paradise Town Hall live music venue is set to be ticked off during council budget talks. And a city leader says the multimillion-dollar project could be a boon for the underperforming Bruce Bishop car park next door.
New data shows only one-fifth of the carparking spaces at the ratepayer-owned Surfers Paradise asset are being used on most week days – the worst performing car park on the Gold Coast.
The Town Hall project, proposed by council last year, would be similar in size to The Fortitude live venue in Brisbane, capable of accommodating 2500 patrons.
Council has allocated $200,000 to prepare a business case.
A City source said: “There is a single line on it in council’s 2024-25 budget. If it is supported by councillors, it will provide the funding for the project.
“There is every likelihood it will be (supported). It’s a significant amount, it will be in the millions of dollars.”
Councillors had voted not to sell despite a $50m offer by a consortium on the table, and instead begin repairs and seek an updated asset management report.
Those new financials, where City CEO Tim Baker is to provide a full profit and loss statement for the six years from 2016, are to be presented to the newly-elected councillors in an updated report yet to be circulated.
Latest carparking data by the City shows the Bruce Bishop car park with 1436 spaces has occupancy of between “20-40 per cent” on a “typical weekday” where numbers were at their highest.
This compares to a “80-100 per cent” average in the council-owned car parks in the Southport CBD.
The 230-space Cypress Avenue car park in Surfers Paradise – only a few blocks north of Bruce Bishop – is recording similar high averages.
Surfers Paradise-based councillor Darren Taylor when contacted about the Bruce Bishop car park patronage acknowledged it made the case for a Town Hall much stronger.
“There are two parts of it. We are doing a body for work to understand how we can make usage of that car park,” Cr Taylor said.
“You’ve got the Transit Centre and you’ve got the Bruce Bishop car park. Having a Town Hall there, it will activate people to come to the site.
“But also we have to be more creative in offering longer term opportunities for businesses and residents in the area, and we will also have (parking) areas for just day to day use.
“The reality is when we have major events or when it’s peak time, the usage of that site is strong, when it’s downtime it’s not as strong.”
Cr Taylor said the car park dropped to five levels but many motorists were not aware of that.
“So how do we encourage people to use the lower parts of the basement,” he said.
The plan was to encourage nearby commercial operators to use those lower sections.
“We don’t have a community centre in Surfers Paradise, in the heart of our city,” he said.
“You think about elections, there was no place for residents to go, we had to go Broadbeach, Mermaid Waters and Southport (to vote).
“With live music, by activating that site, it will actually pull people through what I call the north-south corridor. That’s the area where you see empty shops. It will be a game changer.”
Originally published as Bruce Bishop: Surfers Paradise carpark revealed as Gold Coast’s worst performing, with music venue set to go ahead
‘No apology’ for controversial development approvals
A defiant Meaghan Scanlon says she’s unapologetic for her controversial interventions into the Gold Coast housing market. FIND OUT WHY
Authorities quizzed on stiff penalties for crude vandals
Authorities have been pressed on what consequences await the vandals behind the shocking defacement of trees along Burleigh’s Oceanview track, which drew a larger-than-usual crowd on Sunday morning.