Sahba Abedian is part of the new wave of builders reshaping the suburb with billions of dollars worth of projects around its world-famous surf breaks.

His redevelopment of the Greenmount Beach Hotel resort is now imminent following the departure of its final guests on Sunday, with cranes to rise over the border suburb.

With significant projects underway or about to break ground and community consultation on the light rail extension due to finish this week the former Sunland managing director said it was critical for the suburb for trams to extend south, connecting it to the rest of the city.

“Coolangatta is going through a renaissance and it is also home to some of the most incredible surf beaches that the world has to offer,” he said.

“It is a precious gem for the Gold Coast and naturally we need to make sure there is connectivity, otherwise, things will be limited there

“If you are investing in infrastructure, it must provide the greatest reach.

“Another aspect that we must look at is the continuous greening of the city and to complement this public transport infrastructure, we need to give thought to pedestrians and cycling and other forms of transportation around it.

“This city is reaching a state of maturity where these must be thoroughly considered.”

The Arium Group boss is the latest in a growing number of business leaders who have backed the need for Coolangatta to be connected to the rest of the city’s public transport spine.

The long-planned light rail stage four from Burleigh Heads to the border via the airport has paused as the new state government keeps its election promise to review the route and do community consultation closing on May 3.

Southern Gold Coast and Coolangatta business leaders including chamber of commerce boss Zac Revere and veteran Attwood Marshall legal practice director Jeff Garrett have also backed the trams to go to the border.

It comes as booming Coolangatta undergoes major change. Among the projects in the pipeline for are:

* A 105-unit, 14-storey mid-rise tower earmarked for Haig Street by Immerse Projects.

* A 16-unit, seven-storey complex which will replace a one-storey brick house on Dixon St.

* The future stages of the multi-tower Kirra Point project.

* The $200m, 14-storey Radia tower from Paul Gedoun’s S & S Projects, which is earmarked for a site on the corner of Boundary and Petrie streets, directly behind his recently completed Awaken project.

The $550m redevelopment of the Greenmount Resort was given the green light by the Gold Coast City Council last year.

The project will ultimately have five towers.

Mr Abedian said work to clear the existing hotel would now begin after its final guests checked out over the weekend before the demolition of the building occurs in coming months.

However he said some touches of the old building will be present in the new.

“The first steps will be stripping the hotel now that it has come to a close and served its final guests and the next evolution will be to make way for the new residential development,” he said.

“We want to respect that this business has served many people over many generations and it is befitting that its next chapter will soon be opened.

“However we will find special places within the context of the new development that the historic context of the site can be remembered by all.”

Construction of the first stage will take three years, with the first residents to move in by Christmas 2028.

The first stage of the project to be approved, the Eden Residences, will be 16 storeys and will feature 54 units containing nearly 150 bedrooms.

It was approved in 2023 and will front Eden Ave, however, it is expected to be the last building to be done.

The complex’s second stage – a pair of 14-storey towers – will have 61 units.

The third stage will feature two eight-level towers which will have 22 and 23 units respectively, with a mixture of two and three-bedroom luxury apartments.

GEORGE SAYS GOODBYE

George Corcoran has loved every minute of his time at the Greenmount Beach Hotel.

The 90-year-old Brisbane resident bid a bittersweet farewell to his home away from home of 45 years as the resort closed for the last time on Sunday.

“It’s a very sad occasion and it is a very emotional time,” he said.

“There is no doubt this area has changed so much in that time – the Queensland Hotel is gone and the Pitch used to be thereout it’s gone too and now all the high rises have gone up but the surf club is still there.

“It is the end of an era for everyone.”

The retiree was given a parting gift from staff – his hotel room key.

Mr Corcoran and his family began visiting the Coolangatta landmark in 1980, the year it opened, and kept coming back.

“It was one Christmas when we had spent the day at home at a loose end and we saw an advertisement for the hotel in the paper and decided to go down there the very same day,” he said.

“We came for five days and it rained for all of it but we just kept coming back because of the way they serviced us and our boy.

“We ended up sending four Christmases and 14 Easters in a row there.”

Mr Corcoran and his family continued to visit the resort after his children grew up, including a sentimental trip in 2020 following his wife’s death.

“My wife passed away in 2020 and we came down here because it was her request in the will to have her ashes spread at the pine trees on Hill Street (next to the resort),” he said.

“We made it a really nice ceremony.”

THE BACKGROUND STORY

The Greenmount Resort opened in 1980 and has been the target of multiple redevelopment bids since 2000.

Sunland unsuccessfully attempted to buy the site for $35m in January 2007 before it was snapped up by City Pacific.

The situation changed in March 2016 when the resort was bought for $26m by the publicly listed Sunland, which was at the helm until it was wound down in 2023.

Sunland in 2017 lodged plans for a $370m, two-tower project of between 14 and 17 storeys with 247 apartments overlooking Coolangatta Beach.

However the development group went back to the drawing board after proposed changes to the City Plan and did not end up lodging the revised plans.

The proposal was opposed by many southern Gold Coast groups on grounds it was inappropriate in size and scale for the area.

Sunland, which has since delisted and been wound down, put the site on the market in late 2020 and announced in January 2021it had been sold to Arium Group, which both Sahba Abedian and his father Soheil Abedian have an interest in.