Two luxury towers at 14 levels approved with Greenmount Resort to be demolished

The first two of four towers planned for the southern Gold Coast — both at 14 levels — fronting the Gold Coast’s world famous surfing break, are to be approved by council.

The first two of four towers planned for a project on the southern Gold Coast fronting one of the city’s world famous surf breaks are to be approved by council.

Officers in a report to the Gold Coast City Council’s planning committee on Tuesday recommended approval of the 14-level towers with conditions for the development at Eden Avenue, Coolangatta on the former Greenmount Resort site.

The vote by councillors was unanimous. Full council is expected to tick off on the project – and the remaining two smaller towers to be approved by officers.

Developer Arium Group, headed by former Sunland managing director Sahba Abedian, in April lodged plans with the City for the first two towers of the Greenmount Residences. An application for two smaller eight-level buildings, both code assessable, were lodged this week.

Gold Coast City Council is set to approve a twin tower development at Greenmount in the city's south.

The site includes the old Greenmount Resort, built in 1980, overlooking the famous Snapper Rocks surf break. It will be demolished.

Area councillor Gail O’Neill said the site was an important one for the city and developer had revised plans, ensuring the buildings would not impact on surrounding much loved Norfolk Pines on the adjacent headland.

“They read the room, they did speak to me and listen to the community. They decided on a much softer building – the curved glass,” she said.

She admitted the style of the building “may not to be everyone’s taste” but the final plans would see only 23 per cent of the 50 per cent uplift used

Officers said the two-tower development exceeded the code assessable building threshold of 38 metres by 10.2 metres

Only 18 objections were received with residents concerned about the number of developments being constructed within the surrounding area, building height and scale along with traffic.

The site for the twin towers, both 14 levels, at Greenmount in the Gold Coast's south set to be approved by the city council.

Officers said the Greenmount Resort which was tourist accommodation reached “approximately 11-storeys in height” and contained 136 units. The new towers are for resident accommodation.

When explaining the approval, they said “multiple high-rise tower forms are generally visible as you move through the area” including several older buildings.

Gold Coast City Council is set to approve two 14-level towers at Greenmount.

This indicated that “for a considerable period of time, this area of Coolangatta has accommodated high-density, high-rise buildings for both permanent residents and tourists to the City”. Heights ranged from 13 to 17 storeys.

City planning chair Mark Hammel said the application had led to an “intensive negotiation” between planning officers and the applicant.

“There has been a lot of backwards and forwards – there were three variations, a lot of money spent to get to this point. That’s a really positive reflection on officers, we made it very clear what our expectations were, especially around height and the protection of Norfolk Pines and what things had to look like. We got there,” he said.

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Originally published as Two luxury towers at 14 levels approved with Greenmount Resort to be demolished