Traffic mayhem: Six high rises and $2 billion worth of development in Surfers Paradise
SIX towers are about to be approved in $2 billion worth of development at Budds Beach but residents predict it will drown Surfers with traffic.
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SIX towers are about to be approved in a $2 billion development for the quiet river village community of Budds Beach.
Sydney developer Ralan Paradise Group has planned 2600 units in four towers as part of Ruby precinct on the site of the Paradise Resort on the Gold Coast Hwy and another two high-rises in a neighbouring project called Sapphire.
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The towers will range from 30 to 69 floors high.
Ralan Paradise Group owner and managing director William O’Dwyer said he was inspired to build his two projects after the approval of the three-tower Jewel development in Surfers Paradise.
He said Ruby would be a “5-star” project while Sapphire would be a “6-star” development.
“Ruby is a precinct in itself and each tower will have a family resemblance but will all be different and individual,” he said.
“We view Ruby as a precinct that will be popular as long-term accommodation while with Sapphire we have decided to do something different and avant-garde.
“We feel Jewel set the bar so high so Budds Beach could now accommodate such development and Sapphire certainly will be from a pricing point of view a few notches up from Ruby.”
The four-tower Ruby project will be targeted at the residential market and is expected to take shape over the next six years.
Ground works on the approved first tower began this month, with major construction to start early next year.
A “village green”, including a “versatile outdoor space” for events and functions and a pedestrian arcade, will sit in the centre of the towers.
The third tower in the Ruby precinct will feature a three-storey podium taking in a shopping centre.
It will be home to a supermarket and amusement facilities, including lounge areas, an ice rink, laser tag area and adventure gym.
The two-tower Sapphire project on the neighbouring parcel of land will feature a community centre and park.
Ground works have begun on one of the four towers in the 5-star Ruby development on the site of the Paradise Resort. Two towers as part of the Sapphire development are to be built on a vacant neighbouring site.
Stages three, four and the Sapphire project are before council and will be need to approved by councillors at a meeting later this month.
The full details of the projects, in the tiny housing community north of the tourist hub, only became known after the Bulletin sourced newly filed town planning documents.
The Bulletin has learned the first stage of the two projects was guaranteed under the existing town plan and expected by residents.
But the larger second stage, much like the recent controversial approval of the Iluka supertower on the beachfront, got the tick through delegated authority at Gold Coast City Council.
Mr O’Dwyer said the city was on the precipice of a development boom, fuelled by the rising Chinese tourism market and major developments.
“I see the Gold Coast as the compelling growth story in Australia along the eastern seaboard for the next decade,” he said.
“The (city) is in for some boom years ahead and it is my belief that many people do not yet grasp the dramatic impact both Wanda’s $1 billion Jewel development and the Commonwealth Games will have on how the city is perceived.
“I would go as far as to say that they will revolutionise the Gold Coast.
“Along with effect the Chinese middle class will have on tourism I would say the conditions are perfect for an extraordinary boom in growth.”
RESIDENTS RESPOND
BUDDS Beach residents say plans to build six high-rises in their suburb will drown the Glitter Strip in traffic.
About 170 residents live in houses and three-storey walk-ups west of the Gold Coast Hwy between Birt and Norfolk streets south to Pine Ave.
The six-year build on the two new separate developments will see potentially more than 5000 people living nearby in 2600 units.
Protesting residents predict traffic gridlock in Surfers Paradise as the Gold Coast Hwy, the major north-south link, will encounter similar traffic to the Gold Coast 600, where they wait three changes of traffic lights to exit on to the four-lane road.
A recent traffic report to council, for another development about eight blocks south on the highway, revealed some intersections had already reached capacity.
Resident Julie Manning, who staged a recent campaign and petition against a high-rise project near the Marriott Hotel, said the tiny Budds Beach community would fight the new mega-developments.
“It will be disastrous,” Ms Manning said.
“My hope is everyone will be kicking and screaming about this.
“I think it’s (the first stage) been a done deal for a long time. It’s extremely disappointing. My biggest concern is they will ruin a beautiful area.”
In August, residents presented a petition with more than 100 signatures to council in opposition to a 45-level apartment building on the southwestern boundary of the 32-level Marriott Surfers Paradise. It was later approved by council.
Ms Manning said it was obvious the council under Mayor Tom Tate favoured high-rise development.
“We are the little people in an eclectic area like Budds Beach and are in no way liking this, but what hope have we got when the area councillor (Lex Bell) is not supporting us?”
The recent independent traffic report to council for another high-rise south of Budds Beach found the additional built-up nature of development stops any additional lanes being built on the Gold Coast Hwy.
The report noted that at least one intersection by 2024 would be over capacity, even if no development occurred.
But traffic consultants noted council’s policy of “encouraging a greater portion of north-south through traffic to use the Southport-Burleigh Road corridor as an alternative to the Gold Coast Hwy”.
Cr Bell hit back at the criticism, saying the location of high-rises close to Budds Beach had been allowed since the current town plan was created in 2003.
“I can well understand the issues with traffic because there is no easy solution, but we cannot refuse applications just because there is a general traffic problem in the city,” he said.
“I fought hard for the new city plan to preserve low rises west of Oak Ave as is the case currently and was successful in getting that.”
WHO IS THE DEVELOPER?
RALAN Paradise Pty Ltd is a privately owned Sydney development firm.
It was founded in 1997 by William O’Dwyer and has worked primarily in Sydney where it bought properties through the early 2000s.
Since 2008 the company has built 2600 units across the NSW capital in the wake of the financial crisis.
Ralan arrived on the Gold Coast in March this year, spending $94 million on the Paradise Resort site and the adjacent block between Norfolk and Pine avenues in Surfers Paradise.
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