Chinese to invest $800 million in Gold Coast theme park

A CHINESE theme park developer is set to invest $800 million into a new theme park in southeast Queensland.

Chinese company Wanda has sold a huge parcel of land at Carrara to another Chinese company, Songcheng Performance Development. Picture: David Clark

A ROMANTIC land of theatre, music and dance – worth up to $800 million – will be created from a tract of flood-prone land nestled between the Nerang River and Nerang train station under plans by a key Chinese theme park developer.

Songcheng Performance Development – which also builds indoor skiing parks – will next week settle on the purchase of 40.45ha of land at Lakeview Drive, close to Metricon Stadium, where it is set to make its Australian debut with a major cultural theme park on the Gold Coast.

The sale, which is unconditional, will see fellow Chinese theme park developer Wanda and partner Ridong receive $55 million – more than double the $20.8 million it paid receivers for the 40.46ha block just three years ago.

Canford Property agent Roland Evans, who brokered both sales, said the breathtaking increase was indicative of strong Chinese interest in Australian, and particularly Gold Coast, investment.

“The sales we keep doing show that the confidence in the Coast just keeps coming,” he said.

In a statement to the Shenzen stock exchange, the company said its board had approved the development of a major entertainment project aimed at Chinese visitors, named “Australian Legendary Kingdom”.

The project will be worth up to $800 million and will feature an “Aboriginal Cultural Village” a “Wild Australia” stage show and a “Mysterious Orient” precinct.

Songcheng entertainment parks draw millions of visitors each year to theatrical and musical productions and experiences.

Songcheng Performance Development will next week settle on the purchase of 40.45ha of land at Lakeview Drive, close to Metricon Stadium. Picture: David Clark

Mr Evans said the sale had been approved by the Foreign Investment Review Board and that Canford had now been appointed as a buyer’s agent for Songcheng in their search for more Australian investments.

Songcheng’s current theme parks offer a mix of performance attractions, indoor skiing facilities and luxury resorts and include popular parks at Sanya, a city known as China’s Gold Coast.

The Sanya Romance Park, Sanya Songcheng Color Zoo, Sanya Songcheng Ice and Snow World, and Sanya Songcheng Langlanglang Water Park receive millions of visitors each year.

The Wanda group, which has made aggressive inroads into theme parks and film production in China and the US and is Australia’s largest cinema owner, is well into construction of its $1 billion Jewel resort and apartment complex in northern Broadbeach.

There was speculation Wanda would develop a park on the Nerang land after Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk visited chairman Wang Jianlin 12 months ago.

Songcheng, which has aspirations to be the world’s number one stage show company, is set to release more detailed plans for the site, which is in three parcels, late next week.