Gold Coast development: Budds Beach four-tower $1.75b mega development approved by council
A giant four-tower development in the heart of Budds Beach is set to become home to nearly 2000 people after council gave the $1.75bn project the green light.
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THE biggest development ever approved on the Gold Coast will begin construction before Christmas.
Melbourne developer Tim Gurner has been given a planning green light to embark on a $1.75bn Surfers Paradise venture that promises a seven-star resort experience.
The Gurner group says La Pelago, flagged last year, will transform a whole city block into an ultra-luxury precinct spanning residential, hotel, wellness, retail and hospitality offerings.
Mr Gurner yesterday welcomed the planning approval and said La Pelago, consisting of four towers at Budds Beach, would be marketed to VIP clients mid-year, with a wider launch later in the year.
“We have been working tirelessly, researching all over the world, to ensure we raise the bar and that we can offer something beyond what has previously been possible,” Mr Gurner said.
“We have looked to the world’s best private islands to emulate a true seven-star resort-style precinct and I can speak from the heart when I say there will be nothing like it on the Gold Coast.
“We already have been overrun with inquiries through our website – I think people know this is going to be something incredible that will really push the boundaries. We have some amazing things to announce in the coming months.”
A builder has been appointed for the first supertower, the project’s biggest at 60 levels and with 430 “residences” and 200 hotel suites, with work expected to start before Christmas.
The La Pelago towers will transform a long-empty block of land fronting Ferny Ave and is one of a new wave of projects earmarked for so-called “bomb sites” that have littered Surfers Paradise for 30 years.
At $1.7bn, it is the largest single luxury development to be approved by the council. Only Robert Badalotti’s Imperial Square project in Southport has a higher value, at $2.3bn. However, only its $155m first stage has been given building approval.
Mayor Tom Tate said the urban renewal of the city was critical ahead of the 2032 Olympic Games.
“I’ve been saying build up, not out, to preserve our lifestyle and it will bring other investment. It is wonderful to see urban renewal with these bomb sites being developed and it makes economic sense, especially with international borders opening and people wanting to move here.”
The Gold Coast is in the midst of its hottest real estate market in more than 30 years, with more than 35 towers already under construction. Many others are in the pipeline.
Among the biggest are billionaire developer Harry Triguboff’s $600m Pacific twin supertower, Tony Fung’s 31 and 26-storey residential complex The Minette, and The Star’s $400m Epsilon.
Despite this wave of development, the market still faces severe shortages of available units.
Just 517 apartments remained for sale at the end of September, down from 624 at the end of June. At the end of June 2018 there were 2594.
All up, La Pelago will have more than 900 titles, with each tower surrounded by a waterway lagoon, tropical landscaping and poolside water retreats, in addition to food and beverage tenancies, retail and open space.
La Pelago is being undertaken in tandem with funder Wingate. Last week, the Gurner group stepped up its Gold Coast ambitions by buying, along with funder the MaxCap group, a site for a $120m tower at Burleigh Heads.
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