Gold Coast development: Plans for modern unit block on Currumbin beachfront

A pair of 50s-era buildings on the Currumbin foreshore just metres from one of the Gold Coast’s most famous beaches will be demolished to make way for a high-end unit block. SEE THE PICTURES

A PAIR of 1950s-era buildings on the Currumbin foreshore will be demolished to make way for a high-end unit block.

The properties, on what has been dubbed “mini millionaire’s row”, were bought for $5.56 million in December.

Adjoining homes in Currumbin’s mini “Multi-Millionaires Row”, which have been in the same family for 63 years, sold for $5.56 million last year

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Sydney-based buyer Marquee Flora wants to transform the consolidated Pacific Parade site into an ultra-modern four-storey, seven-unit building with million-dollar views.

An artist impression of a proposed unit block at 800 Pacific Parade, Currumbin

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“The proposed development is of a distinctive architectural design, adopting a form and character which ensures that a high-quality living environment will be provided within the proposed apartments and their private outdoor spaces, while ensuring that the built form produces a visually appealing addition to the vernacular of the streetscape,” a planning report on the project said.

The properties date back to the mid-20th century.

“The expressive architectural language of the development delivers a built form that will enhance its setting, adopt a design that is both sympathetic and complementary to the variety of the established character of the Pacific Parade Neighbourhood.”

The land had been owned by Brisbane’s McCurran family for more than 63 years.

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The view from the tower.

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Its sale in December 2020 was a record for beachfront property on Pacific Parade, with the new owner paying nearly $7100 per square metre.

Each of the two 392sq m sites had a June 2020 rateable value of $2.4 million.

The site sold last year.

Just metres from Elephant Rock and the famed surf break of Currumbin Alley, beachfront properties on Pacific Parade rarely go on the market, making them a hot commodity for buyers in the past decade.

In late 2018, a four-unit 1960s-era apartment block on the same street was snapped up for $2.7 million, an increase on its 2015 sale price of $2.3 million.

But the area’s peak community group says it is concerned about the “anything goes” approach to development.

Friends of Currumbin president Barry Robinson said he did not want to see his suburb become “another Surfers Paradise or Palm Beach”.

“I am a bit disappointed (about the new development) but that’s the way it goes,” he said.

“Council seems to just let anything go these days, especially if you look at Palm Beach.

“We must not let Currumbin become another Surfers Paradise or Palm Beach.”