Golden Age: Why Surfers Paradise can win back locals and become the Gold Coast’s central heart

SURFERS Paradise is the Gold Coast’s most famous suburb but it’s better known as a tourism mecca rather than a business hub. But that’s about to change.

SURFERS Paradise is trying to position itself as the business and tourism centre where locals want to go.

Stakeholders have been presented with economic baseline studies and a business precinct master plan that outlines the tourism hot spot’s strengths and opportunities.

Workshops were staged by council officers earlier this year in the lead-up to more public consultation for a draft master plan next month.

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Central Surfers Paradise (AAP Image/Dave Hunt)

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The studies show Surfers Paradises is well positioned among all Coast precincts due to the amount of public and private parking, the light rail and proximity to the beach.

“More innovative retailers and businesses can be attracted to the area … (it can) develop as a genuine local centre where residents want to go,” the report said.

Research showed most of the office space in the city’s heart belonged to corporates, followed by the government sector and real estate agencies.

But the precinct’s major weaknesses were identified with key negatives being “the amount of vacant space” and “some poor quality buildings”.

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Surfers Paradise Picture: NIGEL HALLETT

The major threats to Surfers Paradise were top end retailers relocating to other centres and the lack of local investment, which meant “some areas are very daggy”.

Economic studies by RPS Australia East Pty Ltd last year found a 25 per cent vacancy rate in shopfront tenancies.

Since June 2016 there had been 180 changes to the retail and shopfront tenancies in Surfers Paradise, which was 16 per cent of all tenancies.

The dominant group were the 178 food service operators, including 21 coffee shops, 92 restaurants and 65 takeaways.

“There are 94 newly vacant tenancies and 44 previously vacant tenancies that are now occupied. Overall, there has been a net increase of 50 vacant tenancies,” the report said.

“While the extent of the overall change is unusual, it is the large and increasing number of vacancies in and around Elkorn Avenue that is apparent.”

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Deborah Kelly, the leader of the Save Surfers Paradise group, believes cheap and easily accessible parking is the key to keep businesses going in the city’s central heart.

Save Surfers Paradise group leader Deborah Kelly confirmed parking remained a critical issue in all CBDs, with customer surveys showing clients would not go to Surfers Paradise or Broadbeach without cheap and accessible car parks.

“Retail trade is down despite so many shops having end of financial year sales. Restaurants are doing it very tough at the present time,” Ms Kelly said.

She said the planned sale of Bruce Bishop car park, with a potential loss of 1640 car spaces, would be a disaster for Surfers Paradise.

“The council’s planned permanent reduction of 40 per cent of all available parking in Surfers Paradise is having a negative impact on new investment there,” Ms Kelly said.

“The council has to drop this suicidal plan.”