Gold Coast developer Sunland files plans for $200m The Lanes shopping centre in $1.3B project

GET your first look at the Gold Coast’s next mega shopping centre, a $200m retail mecca which will be at the heart of a $1.3 billion development.

THE men behind iconic Gold Coast buildings Palazzo Versace and Q1 want to build the first mega shopping centre in the central city in over 20 years.

Soheil and Sahba Abedian, of development giant Sunland, yesterday lodged plans with the Gold Coast City Council for a $200 million, two-level retail centre at Clear Island Waters.

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The Lanes.

Named The Lanes, the project will be built on 6-hectares on the corner of Bermuda St and Hooker Boulevard and feature 80 shops — cafes, restaurants, a fresh food hall, health and wellbeing services and a boutique cinemas — across 17,000sq m

Residential towers featuring “boutique lakefront apartments” overlooking the waterway will be built in future stages of the centre. The entire residential and retail project is worth more than $1.3 billion.

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Your first look at the Gold Coast’s newest shopping centre.

While the Coast’s fast-growing northern corridor has enjoyed a mega mall boom with Westfield Helensvale and Coomera Town Centre, The Lanes will be the first major shopping centre built in the central city since Robina Town Centre opened in April 1996.

Sunland managing director Sahba Abedian said work would start in early 2019, pending approval, and the centre would open by Christmas 2020.

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Soheil and Sahba Abedian. Photo by Richard Gosling

“Our vision for The Lanes is to create an expansive lakefront retail and lifestyle destination where beautiful green spaces are interwoven with urban laneways, food markets, unique retail and dining offerings and leisure experiences,” he said.

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The site where the project will be built.

“This vibrant new retail village will adjoin 5000sq m of landscaped waterfront spaces, creating a family oriented, personalised experience conducive to strengthening the urban fabric of The Lakes and the broader Gold Coast community.”

The building was designed by Gold Coast-based architectural firm Blight Rayner, along with Sunland’s in-house design team, and focus on intricate brickwork and “captivating archways”.

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The centre will feature a mixture of high street and village retail spaces and its centrepiece will be a fresh food market hall inspired by those in Europe.

It will have a 15m-tall, high-glass ceiling with curved timber structures and “artisan” brickwork.

The project has been in the works for two years.

A boutique independent eight-screen cinema will be built at the heart of the centre with premium seating, in-movie dining experiences and a large outdoor entertainment space.

Mr Abedian said Sunland was in negotiations with a range of prominent retailers to take up space inside the centre.

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“The Lanes presents an opportunity for retailers to become a part of this vibrant master planned environment which over the next decade will become home to more than 3000 residents, all living within walking distance of the retail village,” he said.

The project is expected to create around 700 jobs once finished.

Soheil and Sahba Abedian have several major projects in the works this year. Photo by Richard Gosling

Sunland bought the site in 2015 and is developing the remaining sections around the shopping precinct as The Lakes masterplanned community, having already sold more than $94 million in housing.

The first stage of The Lakes is expected to open by June.

It is one of several major projects Sunland is rolling out in 2018, its 35th anniversary.

These include a $200 million residential tower on Hedges Ave, the four-tower Greenmount Hill resort and The Magnoli apartments in Palm Beach.

This month it named businesswoman Rebecca Frizelle to its board.