Formula One: The $650m plan to redevelop Norwell to become giant motorsports hub

Motorcycle legend Mick Doohan was linked to a $650m plan to redevelop a key site on the Gold Coast and bring the Formula One world championship and its key players to the city.

The future of Norwell Valley and its historic farmland has returned to the forefront of political conversation this week.

Incoming deputy mayor Mark Hammel, who himself lives in the area, spoke at a Northern Gold Coast ­Chamber of Commerce breakfast and said an investigation was needed to determine the future of the area, which has long been considered a development no-go zone.

But with pressure growing on the city’s housing crisis and development not keeping pace with the dramatic population growth, Mr Hammel said that the time had come to have a ­serious look at the farming community’s future and what could be done with the land.

Norwell Valley. Picture: Supplied.

“Every idea under the sun has been proposed for the cane fields in the past 20 years, all that it has ever been is pretty pictures, there has never been a shred of technical investigations into if any of it is actually possible,” he said.

Several big proposals have been put forward to transform the area in recent decades.

In 2008, a $650m motorsports precinct which would include a 6.5km racetrack, international hotel, European fashion warehouse, museum, television and technology facility, educational institution and car and motorcycle showroom was pitched.

The proposal, put forward by Queensland-based company 0-Mett, was tailored around securing a stage of the Formula One world championship, the Motorcycle GP and retaining Indy.

The backers of the project wanted to bring Formula One to the Gold Coast. (Photo by Peter Fox/Getty Images)

i-METT managing director Rob Brown said at the time the precinct would last for 50 years and be able to host a range of events.

“`We’re designing for a 50-year lifespan, that’s a very significant lifespan which means we’ll put in all the infrastructure upfront at today’s costs.`

“The cost of running a Formula One event then becomes much more manageable.”

Former motorcycle world champion Mick Doohan, a brand ambassador for the Grandprixone group, backed the proposal.

“It’s a fairly bold area these guys have stepped into, but all in all I say it’s got quite a bit of merit,’’ he said.

I-Mett and Grandprixone announcing its plans to establish a new motor district which will include a Grand Prix racetrack,hotel and shopping district near Norwell worth over $650 million

``From what I can see the facility will be one of the best in the world.’’

State co-ordinator general for infrastructure, Colin Jensen, said the idea was given `significant project status’

However, the project stalled after the global financial crisis and was not approved by the state government, despite the backing of many business and motorsports figures

If the plan had been successful, Gold Coasters would have been able to see the McLarens battling the Ferraris and Red Bulls right here. (Photo by Hector RETAMAL / AFP)

In 2020, a 60,000-home city was pitched in a secret proposal put forward by 71 Norwell landowners.

The Norwell Valley Consortium asked for developer expressions of interest to build Pacific City on 4975ha of green heartland.

This would have covered the vast bulk of the farm land.

According to the pitch document, Pacific City represented “an unprecedented opportunity to develop a potential new city in a bayside location fronting the pristine water of Moreton Bay”.

Artist impression of the proposed Pacific City development. Picture: Supplied.

Under the plans, Pacific City was to feature:

* A “significant city centre” and employment precincts as well as “sustainable ecological and tourism-based outcomes”.

* The potential for up to 60,000 dwellings, based on the preliminary masterplan.

* The masterplan proposed six precincts – employment, north, central, south, transit-oriented and flood/vegetation.

* The planned Coomera Connector motorway would run through the western ­fringes of the city, providing a major transport link, while the Ormeau Railway station and M1 would be just 1km and 4km respectively away from the centre of the development.

The idea also stalled.