Parking fees at Bruce Bishop Car park to fall after $48m sale by Gold Coast City Council

THE new owners of the Bruce Bishop car park have broken their silence, revealing what will happen to the prime Surfers Paradise site and their plans for parking fees.

THE new owners of the Bruce Bishop car park have broken their silence, revealing what will happen to the prime Surfers Paradise site and their plans for parking fees.

Care Park is the new co-owner of the carpark, along with developer Far East Consortium, after purchasing it from the Gold Coast City Council for $48 million.

Care Park state manager Peter Roberts told the Gold Coast Bulletin the company had ‘no plans’ to develop the site and would continue to operate it as a car park, flagging a significant reduction in parking fees.

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Parking fees will drop according to the carpark’s new owner. Picture: Jerad Williams

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“We have no plans to develop the site and plan to run it as a car park, as well as offer a better and more affordable service for the Gold Coast’s people,” he said.

“We will change the majority of pricings — they will be 20-70 per cent cheaper than what council are currently offering.

“There are more than 1500 bays in the car park and on average only 500 are actually used, so there are about 1000 which are not being used, so we want to make it cheaper for Gold Coasters through cutting the rates.”

Based on the current council fees, this would mean motorists would pay between $3 and $10.50 to park there for a full day under the new pricing scheme.

The cost of a weekly pass wcould range from $8.80 to $30.70.

Bruce Bishop carpark. Photo: Supplied

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Mr Roberts said the car park would also undergo a drastic revamp to improve the experience of customers using it.

“We are planning to spend a considerable amount of capital on improving the car park — the current equipment there is old, so there will also be new painting and signage.

“It will offer a much better experience.”

The Gold Coast Bulletin revealed this morning that business and political figures expect the site will eventually be redeveloped to include a mixed-use tower incorporating a hotel, residential units and retail offerings.

Get ready to pay less for parking. Picture: Jerad Williams

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Mr Roberts said many people did not realise there were multiple levels of underground car parking which he hoped would be filled by motorists attracted by the lower prices.

“Underneath the transit centre there are about 1000 bays, which most days only have about 5-10 cars in them, and the only way we can maximise this is offering lower costs,” he said.

“We want it to be cheaper than it currently is.”

It will be the latest revamp of the site after council spent $8.3 million in the past two years to solve the building’s concrete cancer issues and stabilise it.

The carpark’s new owner wants to see its 1500 spaces filled. Picture: Jerad Williams

The issues came to light after part of the car park crumbled in 2016, injuring a woman.

“The city has over the past 18 months undertaken wall repairs on all basement levels of Bruce Bishop car park at a cost of about $8.3 million,” a council spokeswoman said.

“An external engineering report indicated the work needed to be undertaken to ensure about 600 parking spaces remained viable.

“The project used about 700 cubic metres of concrete and 140 tonnes of steel reinforcement.”