Gold Coast development: Signature Broadbeach developer Paul Little says now is the time to acquire tower sites

The rich lister behind a new 35-level tower under construction in Broadbeach says it is a “very good time” to be looking at acquiring development sites on the Gold Coast.

THE rich lister behind a new 35-level tower under construction in Broadbeach says it is a “very good time” to be looking at acquiring development sites on the Gold Coast.

Former Toll Holdings boss Paul Little is building Signature Broadbeach at 12-18 Philip Ave through his company Little Projects.

The 245-unit building, Mr Little’s first foray into the Gold Coast market, has already racked up $140 million in sales, mostly from Australian buyers. The project is due for completion in the first half of 2022.

Mr Little said he already had his eye on undertaking new projects on the Coast.

Artist impression of Signature Broadbeach.

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“We’d love to do another development here. We took a long time finding this site because we have very high standards around the quality of the development and I think we’d be very keen if we can find the right site,” he said.

“It appears to be a good time to be looking for sites.”

Mr Little said that was due to two factors: the light rail extension to Burleigh Heads and the current development climate.

“There are a lot of people saying they will be developing here but they don’t go ahead so some of those sites I think ultimately will become available,” he said.

An artist impression of Signature Broadbeach.

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“The light rail has changed the game and I think from an infrastructure point of view that is a key asset for the area. It has opened up other potential sites for us but we do like Broadbeach.”

Broadbeach has a number of new towers under construction, including Sunland’s tower on Hedges Ave and Morris Property Group’s Koko on the Gold Coast Hwy.

The off-the-plan apartment market is proving tough currently. However, Mr Little said the market appeared to have turned a corner.

“There is no question if you look at the auction clearance rates in Melbourne and Sydney they are both around 80 per cent now. There is a lot of momentum I think coming back into the market,” he said.

An artist impression of Signature Broadbeach.

“Signature, from an investment point of view, with yields in excess of 5 per cent … represents really good value for investors. The beauty of this development is you can be an owner occupier, you can use your apartment every time you wish and then put it back into the pool when you don’t want to use it.”

The management rights for the Signature letting pool, expected to have between 50 and 60 per cent of the total number of units, sold this year to Ultiqa in a deal reported to be worth more than $15 million.

Mr Little said the success of the project was partly due to the targeting of Australian buyers