Paul Weston tips Gold Coast indoor entertainment and sports stadium to be at Southport

The biggest mystery project on the Gold Coast is the proposed new indoor entertainment and sports stadium. Paul Weston tips where will it be built and why

The biggest mystery project on the Gold Coast is the proposed new indoor entertainment and sports stadium. Which of the half dozen sites investigated will be the one where it lands?

The answer is the best parcel of unused commercial land in Southport.

At least 1.5 to 2ha is needed to accommodate a stadium costing between $250m to $350m which can hold up to 12,000 people.

Councillors were recently updated on the sites in a closed meeting at the Evandale Chambers. This was so secret staffers were asked to leave.

What do we know? Music industry sources say they were united on the options. Forget Surfers Paradise, Broadbeach or Miami - they want the CBD.

Three potential future sites – Carey Park fronting the Broadwater, along with Athol Paterson car park and Mal Burke car park several blocks west in the CBD — are being mentioned, all within a short walk to light rail.

Aerial view of Carey Park at Southport. Picture Glenn Hampson.

Forget about the last two as options. The only entertainment for punters strolling after dark around the library at Athol Paterson and the courts opposite Mal Burke is being mugged.

This leaves Carey Park, the car park and grassed parkland just south of Australia Fair fronting the Broadwater Parklands. It covers about 6.7ha.

Developers circling during the Global Tourism Hub experiment site in 2020 loved it. At times since it has had more tents than parked cars, where the homeless have slept in the dawn while courteous council mower contractors cut the grass a metre or so off their tarpaulins.

Why are the Mayor Tom Tate and councillors so supportive of the indoor centre and its location? Part of that reason is if the City fails to build it, Brisvegas will continue to get more future live sports and entertainment with the stadiums being built for the 2032 Olympics.

Southport’s Brooke Patterson sees the move as building on Southport becoming a live entertainment area like Brisbane’s Fortitude Valley.

Brisbane 2032 Olympic Games renders of sporting venues proposed for development - Brisbane Indoor Sports Centre will host Basketball Picture supplied by Populous.

The other reason is some big announcements will be made soon about how to revitalise Southport in the next decade. So this next 10-year window could be the CBD’s last chance.

“It’s a catalyst project. It’s more than building a stadium,” my council source says.

“It’s about encouraging billions of dollars of other development and renewal in Southport. It has to have a lot more people living in it, working in it, so will become the bustling CBD that we envisaged 12 years ago.

“And think about it - where does the City’s accommodation review and future home for its workers sit amongst this.”

Council must make a decision on whether to consolidate its growing workforce at Bundall, or move uptown. This is Southport’s moment on the big stage, to join the Glitter Strip.

Concept plans put forward as part of the Cross River Rail project showing an indoor stadium, part of Brisbane Live at Roma Street.

To achieve this, the vision for the centre needs to be bold — it could include a bridge from the stadium across the Gold Coast Highway to link with the Broadwater Parklands.

Several City sources suggest the section of road from the Aquatic Centre to the Southport Bridge could become a tunnel instead, leaving a smooth grassland walk east to the water and iconic entry television shot for our city with Surfers Paradise as a backdrop.

We have a lot of facelifts on the Gold Coast. This could be a rare one which works.

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