Gold Coast development: New tower planned for Coolangatta’s Komune site after previous project rejected

A developer has filed fresh plans for a Gold Coast tower just two years after a court rejected a previous proposal. New plans reveal a drastically different tower. READ ABOUT THE CHANGES

CONTROVERSIAL plans to build a tower on Coolangatta’s Komune site have been revived — this time with a different developer and a third of the units.

More than two years after the Planning and Environment Court rejected a Hotel Komune bid to build a 27-storey, five-star hotel at the base of Greenmount hill on Marine Parade, developer Spyre Group wants to erect a 12-storey residential tower.

A fresh proposal has been put forward for the Komune development

The Brisbane-based builder, behind Burleigh’s $70 million Natura tower, has filed plans with the Gold Coast City Council to replace the existing Komune resort.

The new proposal has been welcomed by city leaders but community groups opposed to “over development” say a clear pathway is needed to determine what towers can be built in southern beachside areas.

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Artist impression of the new proposed Komune development at Coolangatta

Area councillor Gail O’Neill said she hoped the smaller tower would be greeted with less rancour than the previous proposal.

“The site cover is dramatically lower than what was previously put forward and this is a high-density residential area,” she said.

“I am hoping this will be more palatable to the residents who were unhappy about the previous one.”

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The previous proposal.

The Planning and Environment Court rejected the Hotel Komune development in December 2018 on the basis that it did not comply with either the 2003 or 2016 city plans.

The proposed 100-suite hotel, which would also have had 94 apartments, cafes and restaurants overlooking Greenmount Beach, was approved by the council in April 2017.

Two months later eight neighbours at the Lindor Apartments appealed, taking the decision to the Planning and Environment Court.

After receiving legal advice, the council withdrew its support for the project in March 2018.

The tower’s pool area.

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This left the eight ratepayers forking out $190,000 in legal fees fighting an approval the council no longer endorsed.

By comparison, Spyre Group’s new tower will have 31 units, including two sub-penthouses on level 10 and two penthouses on level 11. The site is owned by Paradise Property Developments.

Spyre Group held a pre-lodgement meeting with council staff in June. A design for the project presented at the meeting was ultimately shelved and replaced with the current proposal.

The proposed ground level.

Community Alliance president John Hicks welcomed a smaller proposal for the Komune site but said the spate of new tower proposals meant it was critical to discuss future development in the southern beachside suburbs. The Komune Resort is nine storeys.

“We hope this project will not be an overdevelopment of the site and will have no problem with it if it’s consistent with the planning code as read by the community,” he said.

“However, there does need to be a conversation about the future of development and we need to establish a community based planning reference group to have an ongoing conversation about the management of growth.”

Elsewhere in Coolangatta, developer Paul Gedoun has begun construction of his $74 million Flow Residences at Rainbow Bay and in December filed plans to redevelop the Cafe D-Bah.

Sunland Group had planned to redevelop the Greenmount Resort site but shelved the project and put the site up for sale.