New Owners Shelve Surfers Paradise Skyscraper Plans

Plans to build two towers up to 72 storeys plus a poolside nightclub have been scrapped by the new owners of a Glitter Strip retail and commercial complex. 

The old Forum shopping complex and Lido Arcade site was approved for a retail precinct, 700 apartments and a 400-room hotel but ongoing construction constraints have sidelined the project indefinitely.

EG Funds Management sold the 5256sq m site Surfers Paradise property to a group of interstate and offshore private investors in December for about $35 million. 

The fund manager has refocused on industrial and healthcare assets including buying Gold Coast medical centres at Parkwood and Highland Park for $12.8 million in March.

The new owners of the three adjoining properties at 3155-3173 Surfers Paradise Boulevard and 24-26 Orchid Avenue have now spent $5 million upgrading the Lido Arcade to become Lido Lane. 

The revamped retail asset now has 75 per cent occupancy after the work ended 10 years of pending demolition that left many stores vacant. 

The Surfers sale is the latest major retail asset to switch hands and plans as the cost of replacement or redevelopment puts a halt on projects.

▲ The Lido Arcade, Forum and office building combined site was one of many transactions to complete in late 2025.

Among those deals, the Paradise Centre and Novotel Surfers Paradise sold to Taiwanese billionaire family group Forest Endeavour for $370 million in December, while Charter Hall picked up Southport Park Shopping Centre on a 6.5ha for $152.5 million the same month.

Further south, Alceon and Aktiv paid $142 million for The Strand Coolangatta in July, well below replacement cost. 

Colliers senior executive Kye Ward said the Forum and Lido owners were now planning to replicate the leasing success across their holding by injecting further capital into the rest of the property. 

“Lido Lane is the first of the three properties to be upgraded as part of a broader plan by the owners to attract quality tenants,” Ward said.

“The significant investment in this portfolio of prime commercial assets is a counter-cyclical move that immediately capitalises on the momentum the local market is experiencing from the broader revitalisation plans under way for central Surfers Paradise.”

Ward said that due to demolition clauses in place, the previous owners were unable to commit to long-term leases for tenants, which left most of the Lido Lane building vacant.

▲ Renderings of the original plans for the site on Orchid Avenue, Surfers Paradise from 2017.

The combined holding comprises a net lettable area of 8262sq m including office and retail tenancies.

EG Funds won approval of its proposal, dubbed Wanderlust, for the site in April 2018. They included a retail precinct, podium and pool club with a DJ stage and bar. 

The residential tower was to be 56 storeys alongside a mixed hotel and residential tower of 72-storeys, all designed by Elenberg Fraser.

In 2022, an extension of approval was filed and approved by the City of Gold Coast, giving the developers a chance to move ahead on any project until May 2026.