Star Launches Skyscraper at $2bn Broadbeach Masterplan

ASX-listed Star Entertainment Group has fast-tracked residential sales in Broadbeach, bringing forward construction of the second mixed-use tower at its Broadbeach Island masterplan.

The $500 million skyscraper will deliver 457 apartments over 63-storeys to market, with construction expected to commence in mid-2020.

The fast-tracked release will add to growing confidence in the Gold Coast high-rise residential market, which experienced an uptick in sales over the March quarter.

The Star Queensland managing director Geoff Hogg said the consortium has expedited sales due to demand for real estate on Broadbeach Island. The first residential tower, which kicked off construction last year, has clocked 92 per cent in sales to date.

“The sales success of the first tower and it being under construction gives a lot of people confidence about our masterplan and what we’re doing,” Hogg told The Urban Developer.

“Obviously the market has changed a lot, but until you start selling you’re never quite sure how the market has shifted and where it will come from.

“[But] off the back of tower one we’re confident there’s market demand there and we will know a little more about those trends in the near future.”

The $400 million, 53-storey first tower will deliver a 316-key Dorsett Hotel — the first of its kind in Australia — and 423 residential apartments.

Hogg’s confidence in the Gold Coast extends to the investor market, which he said was still strong.

“Because the pre-sales for one-bedroom apartments went so well, we feel like there may be 50 per cent — or even slightly higher — of sales to investors,” Hogg said.

“Obviously it’s hard for us to gauge until we find out who wants to participate in the letting pool.”

The Star-led Gold Coast Consortium is a joint venture with Far East Consortium and the Hong Kong-based Chow Tai Fook Enterprises. Each partner has a third equity share in both mixed-use towers.

The $2 billion-plus Broadbeach island is home to two existing hotels — the 600-room The Darling, which was opened ahead of the Commonwealth Games, and the recently refurbished Star Grand.

An operator for the 210-key hotel in the second tower will be named in the coming weeks, which Hogg says will be a new hotel brand not available on the Gold Coast.

“It will be a very exciting addition and the fourth hotel available on the island.”

In addition to the construction of the Dorsett Hotel tower and The Star Residences Gold Coast apartment tower, the Star Gold Coast masterplan includes The Darling and has approval for four more towers making it the largest integrated resort in the country.

The Star, Far East Consortium, Chow Tai Fook joint venture has more than $6 billion in development under way including Brisbane’s Queen’s Wharf and West Side Place in Melbourne.

The group is still working through an approval process for a $500 million Ritz-Carlton hotel in the Pyrmont-Darling Harbour precinct.