IGR Property Group applying with council for the Gold Coast’s first capsule hotel in Southport

A bizarre plan for an ultra-cheap hotel in the heart of a Gold Coast suburb has been hailed as the solution to the city’s homelessness crisis.

A bizarre plan for an ultra-cheap hotel in the heart of a Gold Coast suburb has been hailed as the solution to the city’s homelessness crisis.

The Bulletin last week revealed a Melbourne-based developer wants to build a Japanese-style capsule hotel on the Gold Coast where it will cost you just $20 a night to stay.

Gold Coasters have welcomed the concept, both as a way of bringing backpackers back to the city but as a solution to homelessness.

The Gold Coast's first Japanese-style capsule hotel will be built in Southport.

GC Local wrote: “This is a great temporary solution for the homeless.”

“GCCC should get behind this and offer beds to those sleeping rough," they wrote.

“Much better than sleeping on park benches or in tents in the dunes at the beaches and parks.”

Kim wrote: “Fantastic idea, congratulations, more of these could certainly assist with the rental crisis”.

Others were less keen.

Saley wrote: “The attraction to the capsule style accommodation in Japan is privacy and security.”

“If it is just a curtain keeping you safe, then how is this different to renting a bunk bed in a back packers?” they wrote.

$20 a night: Gold Coast’s bizarre cheap hotel revealed

A Melbourne-based developer wants to build a first of its kind capsule hotel on the Gold Coast where it will cost you just $20 a night to stay.

IGR Property Group has filed plans with the Gold Coast City Council for Capsuleaccom.com, a 173-bed Japanese-style dormitory accommodation centre in the heart of Southport which will offer the city’s cheapest accommodation.

Capsule hotels are very popular overseas.

Planned for a historic Nerang St building next to Australia Fair, it will cater primarily to travellers and backpackers but will allow guests to stay for “months” according to the plans – as long as they don’t mind their personal space being just 0.97m wide.

For their $20 – the cost of a chicken parmigiana – residents will get access to one of an encased two-level bunk bed equipped only with a reading light and power outlet, as well as a curtain for privacy.

A pair of drawers will sit under each bed.

For a little extra, there will be 13 small rooms which will also have a desk.

“The (Gold Coast) is a world-class city attracting a diverse group of tourists and, with events like the 2032 Olympic Games requiring massive infrastructure, together with a surge of 300,000 migrant workers arriving on our shores, creates a shortage of low cost accommodation,” a report on the project reads.

The street frontage of the location.

“There is no better place for capsule-style accommodation at $20 per night.

“Our goal is to create a warm, safe and friendly environment with modern secure facilities where people can stay for a night, week or months.”

Within the dormitory room the sleeping areas will not have “any form” of internal ceiling according to the documents.

Rare photos: Australia Fair Shopping Centre through the years

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Plans filed with council show the 1105sq m building will have a Nook-style cafe fronting Nerang Street which will be open to both patrons and the public, a dining room and kitchen, outdoor entertainment and barbecue area and both male, female and unisex bathrooms.

The buildings on Nerang St date back to the 1940s.

City planning boss Councillor Cameron Caldwell said the diversification of the Gold Coast accommodation offerings would have long-term benefits for the economy.

“We welcome innovation in the tourism industry and new, different accommodation offerings which can attract a different style of clientele to the city,” he said.

“Council will undertake a thorough assessment of the application but we welcome the interest in the revitalisation of the Southport CBD.

“The area offers great transport and recreation opportunities to support this type of development.”

The development application is the latest in a series of dramatic shifts in the Nerang St area in the past six months.

A Gold Coast private investor late last year paid $3m for Swan House, Capsuleaccom.com’s neighbouring property which was until recent, the home of former nightspot Swannie’s Bar.

In February, Australia Fair's owner YFG Shopping Centres announced a multimillion facelift for the Nerang St side of the complex in an effort to increase trade and bring new life to the Southport CBD.

The rooftop bar will be built on the Nerang St side of the centre and will overlook the former Southport Mall area.

It will also allow for long-empty tenancies on the centre’s second level to be reopened, with artist impressions revealing a gym could fill the space occupied by the Mitre 10 hardware shop in the 1990s and early 2000s.

Area councillor Brooke Patterson said there was “demand for all types of accommodation” in the CBD.

“The refresh of the Nerang St Mall is underway with the proposed Australia Fair renovations and council design works scheduled in the upcoming council budget,” she said.

“This latest application would accommodate international travellers, further activating the space”.

Destination Gold Coast CEO Patricia O’Callaghan welcomed the project: “It’s fantastic to see the continued commitment of the private sector working hard to diversify Gold Coast’s offering and this would be a welcomed development to support the visitor economy.”

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