3Group lodges plans for its Arundel Estate masterplan for the 67ha former golf club
A controversial $150m development has gained the surprise backing of some of the city’s biggest sports clubs. Their bosses reveal why.
Gold Coast
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The developer behind a proposed $150m redevelopment of the former Arundel Hills Country Club has unveiled plans for a 7ha sporting hub on the site.
3Group has lodged plans with the Gold Coast City Council for its Arundel Estate masterplan for the 67ha former golf club, which will create more than 380 houses and become home to more than 1200 people.
Some of the site will be granted to the neighbouring A.B Patterson College, which will become a sporting hub open to the community.
According to its plans, the hub will include “six tennis courts, two indoor basketball courts, two outdoor basketball courts, an indoor environmental centre for environmental studies, and an AFL-sized field to be used as a multi-purpose facility for AFL, soccer, cricket and rugby”,
3Group CEO Steve Kleytman said.
“We believe that gifting the bulk of this site to the school provides a great outcome for the community, not only for A.B. Paterson College, which has grown to become a leading centre for learning on the Gold Coast over the past three decades, but for the many sporting clubs throughout the area that are also looking for room to continue growing within their codes,” he said.
“This new sporting hub will deliver state-of-the-art sporting facilities that are desperately needed amid the rapid growth of the local population, while also providing the public with open green space that they can access every day.”
The move has already gained the backing of several sporting clubs, including the Gold Coast Wildcats basketball team and Southport Sharks, one of the Gold Coast’s biggest organisations.
Club CEO Dean Bowtell said more sporting space was critical as the city’s population grows.
“The Southport Sharks’ objective is to grow AFL football on the Gold Coast,” said Sharks CEO Dean Bowtell.
“Underpinned by population growth and female participation, the game has grown considerably over the last 10 years. This has placed pressure on the demand for green space and any opportunity to secure additional playing fields within the region is supported.
“Given the proximity of the proposed playing field to our club, we would be able to utilise this green space to assist the current field constraints for our junior and senior football programs.”
Wildcats president Nicholas Sinclair said: “One of the future challenges to the competition is the continued growth of facilities to train and play games in.
“The new facilities in Arundel would be an ideal location for our growing club to train and could be used for games in the future.”
The developer lodged its masterplan with the council in early 2024 and will unveil its detailed project plans once it is approved.
It is expected to go before the council’s planning committee before Christmas.
Zhongsheng Management, the company which previously owned and operated the golf club, was placed in external administration in May 2022.
The club has been left deserted and the facilities in disrepair with the site eventually sold to Mr Kleytman and his business partners.
However some residents and political leaders have opposed the proposal, arguing it was inappropriate and too large for the site.
A.B. Paterson College Principal Joanne Shelly said the hub would “offer a number of rare and important opportunities for the College”.
“Our entire school community would be significantly disadvantaged were it not to proceed,” she said.
“This development has presented us with an opportunity to create significant new sporting facilities to help us develop more of those well-rounded future leaders our community needs.
“As well as adding to the facilities of the college, the development will add critical mass to the local community. We strongly encourage Gold Coast City Council to allow this development to proceed to the next stage for the benefit of everyone in our college community.”
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