Harbour Town: Gold Coast shopping centre marks 25 years since 1999 opening
Harbour Town bosses say a light rail extension past the northern Gold Coast shopping centre will be critical to its future growth as it marks 25 years of operation.
Transport
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Harbour Town bosses say a light rail extension past the northern Gold Coast shopping centre will be critical to its future growth.
Lewis Land Group’s Biggera Waters outlet shopping centre marks the 25th anniversary of its 1999 opening on Saturday as it looks to the future of the complex, including future upgrades.
Centre manager Greg Day said the completion of its next facelift – a $7m revamp of its southern mall, stretching from JB Hi-Fi and extending towards Harbour Town Eats – would be finished by Christmas and that much more was on its way.
“The convenience mall revamp will be opening before Christmas which is a complete ambience upgrade, with a number of new kiosks set to come in and enhance older parts of the centre and bring it up to the standard of the Harbour Town Eats precinct,” he said.
“There is a masterplan for the centre, with the next to include expansion to the northwest (of the complex).
“This will see a better range of tenants and more experienced offerings.”
The next stage will develop two new precincts – “northwest” and “entertainment leisure”.
The entertainment precinct will be created on the eastern side of the complex near the dining area and will feature “a new amusement parlour”.
It will replace existing carparking on the site.
The northwest precinct will feature the creation of 770sq m of extra floor space.
It will require the demolition of the existing Oakley, Sheridan, Factorie, Gazman, Colette and Gant shops.
The proposal is currently before council and there is no time frame yet for when it will be delivered.
It comes 25 years after the centre opened on December 7, 1999.
The complex expanded several times in the past quarter-centre and today has more than 10 million people pass through its doors annually.
This number is set to increase in coming years as Lewis Land builds its $1.5bn Harbour Shores housing development across the road.
It will create an extra 4000 dwellings on the centre’s doorstep.
Mr Day said the extension of the light rail north to from Griffith University to Biggera Waters was “critical”.
“We would love the tram to come up here,” here said.
“It’s a no-brainer because the public transport will be critical for us.
“We will have an extra 4000 people on our doorstep and despite the economic conditions, our business is essentially recession-proof.
“We are seeing strong visitation from the India market and South Korea, while China has been soft to come back after Covid.
A tramline running from the existing Gold Coast University Hospital station north to Harbour Town has long been in the plans, with initial tracks laid for it in 2013 during the construction of Stage 1.
The proposed route for a Harbour Town connection was a 3km spur line with several stops, including at Southport Sharks and further north at Central Street.
It is likely to be the next looked after the completion of Stage 4, running from Burleigh Heads to the border.
Premier David Crisafulli has backed the extension.
“The spur to Harbour Town is essential ….it makes sense, it’ll get more people onto it,” he said earlier this year before the October election.
Lewis Land CEO Brett Draffen said the heavy development around the precinct made the centre an even more vital community hub than it was in 1999.
“When Lewis Land delivered Harbour Town as the first outdoor shopping centre in Australia in 1999, we believed wholeheartedly in the Gold Coast, and we still believe in it now,” he said.
“Looking to the future, Harbour Town will play an increasingly important role in the evolution of the emerging residential precincts around it.
“In this regard, it will become more than a destination for day trippers and shoppers to visit – it will become part of the broader community amenity.
“It’s extraordinary to think an idea so pioneering 25-years ago would play a leading role in our latest trailblazing development, Harbour Shores.”
Construction of Harbour Shores began earlier this year, with its first residents expected to move in by mid-2026.
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