Cairns real estate: Tim Gurner says protesters ‘misrepresent’ luxe Port Douglas development

A Melbourne rich lister is quietly confident his proposal for a $60m development at Port Douglas can overcome vehement community opposition and a land glitch that has been a sticking point with the council.

THE high-profile Melbourne developer behind a proposed $60 million luxe development at Murphy St in Port Douglas says a group opposing the project is misrepresenting it with inaccurate and over-inflated statements and images.

The Protect Our Paradise group has garnered 1,325 signatures against Tim Gurner’s development, saying it will set a dangerous precedent and a patch of state-owned land – which has proved to be a sticking point in the application – should not be sold to Mr Gurner.

But Mr Gurner, who appeared on The Australian’s 2021 rich list with an estimated wealth of $634m, said the proposal was not dependent on acquiring the 900 sqm patch of publicly owned land.

An artist’s impression of the Tim Gurner proposed development at Murphy St, Port Douglas. Picture: supplied.

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Mr Gurner said the Protect Our Paradise group’s own artists impressions negatively misrepresented the scale of the proposal.

“The massing suggested by the Protect our Paradise renderings are incorrect and over-inflate the height of the main building by roughly two to three metres which is equivalent to close to a full floor,” Mr Gurner said.

“The repeated attempts by the Protect Our Paradise group to suggest that this building will tower over the surrounding landmarks is incorrect – we have nothing to hide and want to share with the local community that we are approaching this proposal and the location in which the project sits with the utmost care and respect.

An artist’s impression of part of the Tim Gurner proposed development at Murphy St, Port Douglas. The development application was lodged in mid-December.

“All we are asking for is a fair and accurate review of our proposal which is currently before council and feel these renders, and the campaign that has been launched against this proposal, perpetrate a false representation of what we are trying to achieve.

“As we have previously stated, and as is clearly visible in the renders, three to four stories of the massing will sit underneath the natural ground line and therefore will not be visible from Murphy Street or from the surrounding residences.”

“This is an extremely unique site with complex topography created from its former use as a quarry.”

Plans for the site include 16 boutique homes, priced from $900,000 to $15 million, with a further 18 boutique hotel rooms with direct beach access to Four Mile Beach.

Mr Gurner said Port Douglas was in desperate need of revitalisation to stay viable and the proposed resort would deliver a much-needed tourism boost.

Protect Our Paradise spokeswoman Wendy Crossman said the group had contracted a Cairns-based professional architect to do those renderings.

“Protect our Paradise hasn’t claimed anything without independent professional advice,” she said.

“The architect created these renderings purely on the specifications in the development application and is prepared to defend them in court.

“(Mr Gurner) proclaims he loves Port Douglas and has been coming here for years.

“He should ask himself what drew him to Port Douglas in the first place.”

Originally published as Cairns real estate: Tim Gurner says protesters ‘misrepresent’ luxe Port Douglas development