Gold Coast development: Bold plan to turn the Gold Coast’s Tedder Avenue into a Rodeo Drive

Tedder Ave will be blocked off to most traffic and become a hi-end retail precinct under a plan to turn the struggling area into the Gold Coast’s answer to Los Angeles’ Rodeo Drive.

TEDDER Avenue can be blocked off for pedestrians and speeds reduced to 10km/h under a dramatic plan to revive the famous trading precinct and turn it into the Gold Coast’s answer to LA’s world-famous Rodeo Drive.

Attracting major name traders and diversifying the area’s retail offerings are seen as the key to reviving the fortunes of the once hip strip.

But city leaders are ambivalent about any proposal to close Tedder Ave to car traffic.

Plans to overhaul the famous retail precinct so it competes with rivals Broadbeach, Surfers Paradise and Southport also include developing an event calendar and better pedestrian links to The Spit.

THE PLAN TO SAVE MAIN BEACH

Neil Fisher of Domani's and Georgie Brown of the Main Beach Progress Association at the Tedder Ave. They are both backing a push to take Main Beach back to its glory days. Picture: Jerad Williams

The Main Beach Progress Association employed a consultant, the Better Cities Group, to complete two reports which after public input next month will see it lobby council for funding.

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The reports found that with development of Pacific Fair and Robina Town Centre, Main Beach was no longer a point of difference with its restaurants and high-end fashion.

MBPA secretary Georgie Brown told the Gold Coast Bulletin: “We can’t do it alone. The landlords and business owners have to come to the party.

“We want them to be realistic about the rents they can get and look at diversifying the business in Tedder Avenue. There’s too many cafes. There’s no gift shops and clothes shops.

GOLDOC Chairman Peter Beattie and Games Minister Kate Jones talked up the cafe culture in the suburb during the Commonwealth Games. Picture: Alex Coppel.

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“We are looking to do more events. The costs of street closures and traffic management are high. Tedder has to become a shared zone with invisible bollards.”

Ms Brown said securing a major retailer such as Apple would be a “dream” for Main Beach, while she also hoped to see a local version of Sydney’s famed Paddington Markets created on Tedder Ave to act as a launch pad for the next generation of designers.

The report, with the backing of Main Beach businesses and residents, would enable the association to approach council about “reliable funding”.

“This is a blueprint for the authorities, for government and the council to work towards,” Ms Brown said.

“The whole aim is to give Main Beach its own identity, separate from Surfers Paradise, Broadbeach, Southport and The Spit, like a Rodeo Drive.”

The Spit and its link south to Main Beach. Picture Mike Batterham

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But two of the city’s longest serving councillors have refused to back the idea.

Area councillor and former mayor Gary Baildon said he had concerns about how widespread support was for such a change.

Southport councillor Dawn Crichlow, who was first elected on the back of a campaign pledge to close the controversial Southport Mall and re-open Nerang St, was ambivalent about the Main Beach plan.

A long-running opponent of pedestrian malls, she said it was up to Main Beach residents to decide the area’s future.

Tedder Avenue, Main Beach has struggled for some years. Picture: Jerad Williams

“Tedder Ave started to struggle when they extended it and it has too many shops so the locals couldn’t cope and the minute the post office left for Marina Mirage, that was it,” she said.

“It is entirely up to the traders, if that is what they want.”

The report said the challenge for Main Beach was again creating a “point of difference” to other retailing giants.

An opportunity existed to create a “big picture” vision for Main Beach to drive investment and ensure integration of individual projects.

Wider economic benefit could be gained by hosting or being linked to international events like America’s Cup-style yacht racing, the Volvo Ocean Race in the Broadwater, and leveraging off the large crowds that arrive every year to support the GC600, Gold Coast Marathon and the Coast leg of the World Triathlon Series.

This could be our answer to Rodeo Drive Photo: David Clark

“The quality and maintenance of Main Beach and Tedder Ave public space is of a high standard,” the consultant report said.

“Main Beach has a sufficient pedestrian footpath network and Tedder Ave has benefited by a series of improvements over the last decade.

“In line with other centres in southeast Queensland and the Gold Coast, local economic benefit could be unlocked by transitioning to a lower speed shared zone and installing removable bollards to assist event hosting.”

A Main Beach strategic plan 2018-2023 would consider promoting increased pedestrian safety and “facilitating car movement at 10 kilometres per hour”.

“Such an initiative would build on the natural people-watching and cafe culture strength that Tedder Ave enjoys,” the report said.