The Gold Coast’s ghost towers: The real story inside the Glitter Strip’s development wave

These are the ghost towers from Gold Coast’s past – and why they were never built. FULL DETAILS >>>

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August 27, 2021 - 12:00AM

Gold Coast Bulletin

THE Gold Coast seems to be always enjoying a development wave. But take a deep dive, go beyond the glossy planning pictures and explore the history of some sites. You will find ghost towers from the past.

Promotional material for development site for new apartment tower at 15 Rosewood Ave, Broadbeach on the Gold Coast.

You will also find residents stirred up, convinced about new apartment buildings being built on their doorstep, and city councillors frustrated as they meet to explain the complicated development application (DA) process.

Shovel work is yet to start on at least two dozen major developments publicised in the past four to five years. This amounts to $8bn. At least 6000 units.

A tower proposed for a development site at 15 Rosewood Ave, Broadbeach on the Gold Coast.

Many projects are in the Surfers Paradise-Broadbeach super division of new councillor Darren Taylor. He wants the “bomb” sites cleaned up and new towers that fit with neighbourhoods.

“The data shows less than five per cent of development applications actually go ahead,” he told your columnist.

“We are in a second or third time around (with some projects). What a lot of developers will do is put in a minor change to keep the development application alive.”

Look at 15 Rosewood Ave, Broadbeach. The suburb’s biggest tower is being planned here.

Gold Coast's worst bombsites. Former Oriental Garden restaurant, 15 Rosewood Ave, Broadbeach.

FULL LIST: FAILED ‘GHOST TOWERS’ WHICH HAVE NOT BEEN BUILT

Once home to the Oriental Garden Restaurant fronting the Gold Coast Highway, the abandoned building was covered with graffiti and became one of the city’s “bomb” sites.

In 2016, council gave approval for a 41-storey building with 184 units.

When a fresh DA was recently lodged for a bigger tower, residents reached out to Cr Taylor and your columnist.

Historic planning documents show an extension was given in June 2020 to the approval for the initial tower. This lapses in November.

A concept image of Rosewood tower, which is earmarked for a site at 15 Rosewood Ave

In May this year, the developer asked for both a request to extend the period of the existing approval and change that approval to allow for a new tower.

Sydney-based company Rosewood Broadbeach Pty Ltd wants to now build a 52-storey development catering for 146 apartments – 11 storeys taller than the first tower.

Planning documents show it will be a remarkable addition to the city’s skyline in terms of height. Oracle is Broadbeach’s tallest tower at 50 levels.

Officers will have to weigh up site density, traffic concerns and other issues raised by residents.

Planned tower development on a site at 15 Rosewood Ave, Broadbeach on the Gold Coast.

But in the time 15 Rosewood Ave has been a restaurant, “bomb site”, vacant block with a few Norfolk pines and old paved carparking, a change occurred on the site’s front door.

Light rail has rolled past on the Gold Coast Highway and as we know it encourages much denser development. Council officers are likely to make a recommendation next month.

Planned tower for site at 15 Rosewood Ave, Broadbeach on the Gold Coast.

Once council gives DA approval on any site, Cr Taylor knows what follows is engineers get involved, the designs are refined. A decision must ultimately be made by investors and property owners on whether consumers will pay and afford a unit at the set price.

When assessing these older developments, Cr Taylor is trying to get improvements for neighbouring residents using the updated City Plan based on their original input.

“We need to educate people (about the planning process). They’re not going to all go up,” he says.

Aerial of development site at 15 Rosewood Ave, Broadbeach on the Gold Coast.

His aim is to clean up the ugly bomb sites. But not to open the door for a super tower shadowing the nearby properties.

This is the Glitter Strip’s most complex development balancing act. We need to appreciate it can take years before a shovel turns the first sod in the sand.

paul.weston@news.com.au