Sunshine Coast’s $150m Crowne Plaza Hotel, Apartments Waved Ahead
A luxury residential and hotel development overlooking the Maroochy River has been approved by the Sunshine Coast Council.
Plans for the $150-million Crowne Plaza Maroochydore at 15 and 19 Ocean Street were filed in May 2025 by Sydney-based developer Felix Capital.
The proposal includes 180 guest rooms, a 30m pool and a 160-seat restaurant.
The plans, submitted with IHG Hotels & Resorts, marked an upscale from initial proposals to turn the hotel into a Voca-branded hotel with 153 rooms.
The approved 13-storey project is to have an additional 24 apartments atop the development. Dubbed AER Residences, they will be two and three-bedroom units.
The DBI-designed apartments will be between 110sq m and 280sq m.
The plans also include a 600sq m ballroom, gym, sauna and outdoor pools.
The hotel benefited from a Temporary Local Planning Instrument introduced for the area that took effect in April 2025 and allows the development of new hotels and the redevelopment of existing premises for hotels.
The TLPI was introduced to meet forecast demand for accommodation on the Sunshine Coast in the lead-up to the 2032 Brisbane Olympic and Paralympic Games.
This TLPI has allowed the Crowne Plaza Maroochydore to increase its height above the initial overlay code of 40m to 47 metres.
It is the second hotel to benefit from the Sunshine Coast Council’s Accommodation Hotel Incentive Measures to date.
Felix Capital director Michael Maroun said the incentive scheme was a “game changer” and helped to facilitate a great outcome for the
developer as well as council and the region.
The project would provide “much needed leisure and business tourism accommodation as well as community entertainment facilities for the region when it opens in 2028”, he said.
The council has revealed that the Sunshine Coast needs more than 2400 more hotel rooms, or around 10 new hotels, to support the tourism industry.
Mayor Rosanna Natoli said that the Crowne Plaza “ticks every box” in providing important tourism infrastructure to boost the region’s appeal.
Sydney-based Lords Group Sydney has been appointed as the builder and Mostyn Copper as the project manager.
Construction of Crowne Plaza Maroochydore is expected to begin in April 2026 ahead of a planned opening in 2028.
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