Main Beach: Inside story of beachside suburb’s collapse
Main Beach and Tedder Avenue used to be the playground for rich-listers, rock stars and the Gold Coast’s biggest names. But things went terribly wrong inside ‘vain beach’. This is its story.
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MILLIONAIRES, movie gods and rock stars were once a common site in Tedder Ave’s restaurants and cafes in Main Beach.
Through the area’s heyday of the 1990s and 2000s, it was the Gold Coast’s go-to place for fine dining, or just to be seen.
But Tedder Ave went into a steep decline in the late 2000s and 2010s.
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Visitors and residents were more likely to see row after row of empty shopfronts and closed business than U2’s Bono and the Rolling Stones’ Mick Jagger who had both frequented the area during visits.
But Main Beach is on the way back up, with hundreds of millions of dollars worth of development underway, giving it a new lease of life.
This week, long-time Gold Coast developer Drew Group filed plans for Lagoon, a two-tower project that will transform Cronin Ave.
It’s the latest transformation for the area since it began to be developed more than 130 years ago.
The township of Southport began springing up in the late 1870s, when pubs and hotels such as the Southport Hotel were built.
It expanded dramatically in the 1880s and 1890s and locals would often make the trip across the Nerang River to enjoy Main Beach’s surf. It was better than that of Southport, which was open to the sea at the time before the Broadwater was formed.
A popular camping ground opened close to the beach where people would pitch their tents and enjoy a holiday with incredible views down the coastline.
Southport and the nearby suburb of Elston, later known as Surfers Paradise, became increasingly busy through the early decades of the 20th century as more people moved to the region.
It became clear that it was time to retire the ferry that crossed the river and build a bridge which could cope with the traffic.
The Jubilee Bridge opened in 1925 and ran from the end of Southport’s Queen Street to near the current location of Southport Yacht Club.
The wooden bridge was narrow and rickety by today’s standards but it led to the Southport Town Council to begin subdividing and developing the area.
It opened the same year the Southport Surf Life Saving Club opened at Main Beach.
The Southport Beaches Company began reclaiming land for housing in the early 1930s, filling in Shark Bay while the council built the Main Beach bathing pavilion in 1934.
Fast-forward to the 1980s and Main Beach was one of the key beneficiaries of the development boom that had completely reshaped the city’s skyline during the previous decade.
It was home to two theme parks – Sea World and Andalucia Park, a popular but financially unsuccessful music venue in Fisherman’s Wharf – and the opulent Sheraton and Marina Mirage complexes.
The influx of tourists and big-money projects also saw Tedder Ave become home to some of the city’s best high-end restaurants, bars and cafes. By the mid-1990s, Main Beach was dubbed the Gold Coast’s answer to Sydney's rich-lister enclave Double Bay.
“Only a few years ago the main road junction there housed typical beach-style corner stores,” a 1996 review of the area said.
“Today there are at least 10 smart and trendy restaurants and coffee shops, elegant boutiques and up-market bottle shops to cater for the tastes and whims of the rich and beautiful who inhabit the surrounding high-rise apartment blocks.”
With luxury fashion retailers, celebrities and rich listers everywhere to be seen, the suburb earned the pejorative sobriquet “vain beach”.
The opening of Sunland’s six-star Palazzo Versace in 2000 brought rock stars to the city. They were often photographed dining out at Domani's, among other venues.
The year 2008 proved to be a significant line in the sand for Main Beach, when the global financial crisis putting many businesses to the sword.
The end of the annual Indy carnival brought a decline of international visitors while the expansion of dining offerings at the revamped Robina Town Centre and Broadbeach drew the crowds away.
The first half of the 2010s was a dire period for Main Beach, with locals blaming the construction of the light rail between Griffith University and Broadbeach for a decline in visitors.
A January 2015 Bulletin report revealed at least six restaurants, four clothing boutiques and the TAB had closed since Christmas 2014.
A lack of attractions other than restaurants to entice visitors and some of the highest commercial rents on the tourist strip were also blamed for the suburb’s woes.
With renewed interest from tower developers in recent years, there has been a significant debate about the future of the suburb as more builders look to demolish the old and create something new.
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