Cavill Ave to become Gold Coast’s version of Times Square under tower development proposal
THE heart of Surfers Paradise is set to be transformed into the Coast’s answer to New York’s Times Square under a proposal before city leaders.
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CAVILL Ave in the heart of Surfers Paradise is set to be transformed into Australia’s glitzy answer to New York’s Times Square under a new proposal before city leaders.
The northwestern corner of Cavill Ave and Orchid Ave will be demolished and replaced with a gleaming 32-storey tower to stand alongside the neighbouring Hilton buildings.
It would replace an existing two-storey building which is home to longtime nightspot, The Avenue.
31-STOREY TOWER PROPOSED FOR SURFERS PARADISE
The Bulletin can reveal its centrepiece will be a massive four-storey tall “interactive” LED screen that, if approved, would dominate the heart of the tourist precinct.
The screen will be visible from the ocean and will wrap around the building on both frontages.
It would operate day and night and provide, according to planning documents, “a lively interreactive experience and the content can be tailored to events, marketing, festivals and reinforce the wider Gold Coast images”.
“The proposal is to use glass awnings so the overspill from the screen becomes an experience,” the report said.
“We propose to use a specialist international company, Imagine-That to undertake the design and installation of the screen and content.”
The tower would include a hotel with 178 rooms.
A development application for the unnamed highrise development has been submitted to the Gold Coast City Council.
The project has been proposed by developer Centa Surfers Pty Ltd, a Southport company based in the Seabank building.
Its sole director is cashed-up Brisbane-based investor Henry Yuen, 69, who has owned shopping centres across the city, including Nerang Mall and Ashmore City.
Planning documents show the development would include restaurants, outdoor street dining, tourist attractions and other facilities to attract locals from the Cavill Ave promenade.
Among the ideas proposed in the planning documents are for the multistorey screen to have the capability for augmented reality, potentially allowing passers-by to have their tweets broadcast across the screen above them.
City planning boss Cameron Caldwell welcomed the proposal and said it was the latest step towards giving Surfers Paradise a major facelift.
“The site in question is the heart of our tourist offering and would potentially attract tourists and further investment in the area,” he said.
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