$2 billion Imperial Square project moves forward with funky hotel plans

THE first stage of the largest tower in the southern hemisphere is set to get underway with a funky ‘Gen Y-style’ property.

AN Artist impression of the hotel planned for Imperial Square

DEVELOPER Robert Badalotti has moved on to the front foot with his $2 billion Imperial Square project in Southport, moving to sell the first stage, which includes a ‘funky’ hotel.

Imperial Square, which is intended to have the southern hemisphere’s tallest building at 108 levels, is earmarked for a Ferry Rd site that is home to the Mercato centre.

Stage one, expected to be under way within three months, includes a 210-room hotel, described as a millennial, Gen Y-style property.

The 18-level building which houses the hotel will include a rooftop bar and outdoor cinema serviced by a 35-person glass lift.

Imperial Square at Southport

The hotel will sit above a 378-room student accommodation quarter and a 2500sq m hospitality campus that will be integrated with the hotel.

James Vallis, chief operating officer for Mr Badalotti’s Azzura Investments, said the hotel, by virtue of its style, was expected to have wide appeal to visitors and also would serve later stages of the Imperial Square project.

He said the hotel, which would involve modular construction, could take less than a year to build.

Mark Durran, JLL’s Australian head of hotels and hospitality, said the stage would be a world-class vertically-integrated education and accommodation complex.

He said potential buyers, both domestic and international buyers, already had expressed interest in a turnkey deal — they would pay for it when it was built — on all, or parts, of the stage.

It is to rise at the eastern end of the Imperial Square site, on 1955sq m on the corner of Meron Street and Gillian Lane.

“Already we are finding potential buyers like the mixed-use make-up,” said Mr Durran.

“It means they can have a diversified income stream and flexibility if they want to sell parts of the property.”

Imperial Square at Southport

Mr Durran, who is marketing the stage in tandem with colleague Tom Gibson, said the funky, boutique-style hotel was intended to be a Tryp by Wyndham property but could be sold vacant, enabling another group to operate it.

A lease of the hospitality campus space already had been agreed with China’s Harvest Education Technical College.

Mr Badalotti, who has been developing on the Gold Coast since the late 1980s and has built three Surfers Paradise resort towers, intends Imperial Square to be a self-contained suburb.

Its super-tower would sit on a six-level podium featuring 50,000sq m of floor space for a university or college, libraries, eateries, and a shopping centre

The landmark building would be flanked by towers of 48 and 68 storeys.

The 1.3ha Imperial Square site sits within the Southport Priority Development Area.