Gold Coast development: Sunset Strip Holiday Lodge in Coolangatta knocked down to make way for luxury beach homes

Demolition work started on Friday on one of the Gold Coast’s last remaining 1960s-era motels. SEE THE PICTURES

• Candyman lands blow in court battle with neighbour
• Storms on horizon ahead of weekend scorcher

DEMOLITION work started on Friday on one of the Gold Coast’s last remaining 1960s-era motels in Coolangatta.

The Sunset Strip Holiday Lodge on Boundary St was bought by Sherpa Property Group in a $10 million deal that involves replacing the motel with 16 luxury freestanding homes priced from $14 million each and called Freedom Beach Homes.

Tim Hend, of Wipeout Demoliton, said they were halfway through the demolition after knocking down two houses that formed part of the freestanding property.

The Sunset Strip Holiday Lodge on Boundary St, Coolangatta, is knocked down on November 13, 2020. Photo: Timothy Hend

The Sunset Strip Holiday Lodge on Boundary St, Coolangatta, is knocked down on November 13, 2020

He said demolishing the motel building would take another week-and-half.

“This is an old motel from the 60s that has been around forever,” he said.

“It had the same furniture from the day it was built.”

Mr Hend said several residents of the houses had to be moved on before the demolition could begin.

He said they were unhappy but the rooms presented a health hazard with significant amounts of mould.

The Sunset Strip Holiday Lodge on Boundary St, Coolangatta, is knocked down on November 13, 2020. Photo: Timothy Hend

Asbestos was also found in the houses and removed.

However, he said it was not as “nasty” a demolition as the Evening Star motel in Labrador, which also dated back to the 1960s.

Sherpa has embarked on a string of projects on the southern Gold Coast and Tweed Coast over the past two years.

An original beach shack on Pacific Parade will be relocated to make way for five full-floor luxury apartments overlooking the beach at Bilinga while four freestanding residences will be built on Golden Four Drive.

Renders of Freedom Beach Homes Rainbow Bay project by Sherpa Property Group.

Follow @thomoalis1