Gold Coast development: $300m tower of power calls revived by busines and political leaders

A campaign to relocate major government services including a Supreme Court, council headquarters and tourism department to Southport is back on the agenda.

A CAMPAIGN for a new justice hub — including a Supreme Court — council headquarters and state government satellite offices to Southport is back on the agenda.

Business and political leaders led by Mayor Tom Tate have long lobbied the State Government to sign up for a joint venture with the council to develop a $300 million office tower in the heart of Southport to house staff from both tiers of government.

Brisbane’s tower of power. Picture: .Lyndon Mechielsen.

Now, more than two years after the proposal stalled because of a lack of political will from the Palaszczuk Government, councillors and business leaders say such a move is critical to reviving the suburb’s economic fortunes.

Area councillor Brooke Patterson wants to revive the concept, arguing it would increase demand for other businesses and services to be located in Southport.

“We do need a Federal Family Court here, as well as a Supreme Court, and State Government department,” she said.

Southport-based city councillor Brooke Patterson.

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“There is already enough people who have to go up the M1 to get work when they should be able to be based right here where they live.

“Right now we do not even have a tax office on the Gold Coast, despite being one of the biggest cities in Australia, so that should definitely be looked at too.”

Aside from a new legal hub, the proposal put to the State Government in late 2018 included plans for a state satellite office for the hundreds of Gold Coast-based workers who have to tackle the gridlocked M1 each day, and satellite offices for government ministers who spend time on the Gold Coast as part of their portfolio.

Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate Picture: NCA NewsWire / Steve Holland

Mal Burke car park, opposite the Southport courts in Hinze St, Southport, was proposed as a site for the justice precinct. A high-rise building would be built nearby Athol Paterson car park near the library for council and state bureaucrats.

The plan also included moving the council chambers from Evandale to the Southport Library site.

Figures provided to the Bulletin at the time showed 14 state agencies were spread across 48 separate tenancies on the Gold Coast, for a total floor space of 29,000sq m or about 29 storeys in lettable areas.

Business and political leader say Southport is the logical place for a “tower of power”.

Supporters of the “tower of power’’ proposal said at the time the figures added considerable weight to the argument for the building.

Southport Chamber of Commerce president Ian Kennedy said centralising the Gold Coast’s political and legal fraternities into the single suburb would bring much-needed prestige to the area.

“Council really needs to get its administrative centre into Southport, along with finally securing a Supreme Court,” he said.

“These are important projects for the area while we also want to see a tunnel under the Gold Coast Highway to connect the rest of the suburb with the Broadwater Parklands.

“It would let us be more like South Bank in Brisbane.”