The tower plans keep piling up along Australia’s busiest highway of high-rise development.
A Sydney-based developer’s proposal for a 17-storey apartment project is among the latest development applications lodged for a site fronting the Gold Coast Highway.
It is earmarked for an 827sq m parcel on the corner of Frederick Street, across the road from the landmark D’Arcy Arms Irish pub in Surfers Paradise
The project is part of a wave of tower development proposals as interstate developers continue to stake their claims along the booming Gold Coast Highway strip.
Last week, Melbourne-based Gurner Group revealed plans for a $120-million, 22-storey apartment tower fronting the highway at Burleigh Heads.
Macquarie Developments Group also is moving ahead with plans to build a 52-storey apartment tower on the corner of Rosewood Avenue and the Gold Coast Highway at Broadbeach.
The Gold Coast’s apartment market has surged during the pandemic with strong demand pushing up unit values by 26 per cent last year. Apartment sales hit $1.2 billion in Surfers Paradise in the 12 months to November.
The latest Surfers Paradise tower development application has been filed by Green Chilli Project, whose director is listed as Navraj Singh of Kenthurst in Sydney’s north-west.
According to the town planning assessment report for the site at 2917-2919 Gold Coast Highway, the tower will comprise 35 dwellings, including seven two-bedroom and 28 three-bedroom apartments.
It will also feature a ground-floor cafe and rooftop communal recreation area—incorporating a sunken lounge, barbeque and dining areas, indoor gym and infinity-edge pool.
The apartments will be spread across 14 levels with three units per floor on the lower levels and two per floor on the upper levels. All of the apartments will feature large north-facing balconies that “act as outdoor rooms”.
In designing the tower, BDA Architecture said it took its inspiration from “modern racing yachts with foiled keels”.
“The 17-storey residential building provides a contemporary facade that looks to reflect its coastal location, creating a strong architectural landmark when viewed from the Gold Coast Highway.
“The tower’s form is a product of the changing floor plates, with the overall mass of the building reducing, the higher it gets.
“This in turn creates an interesting, slender tower and will create visual interest from the surrounding context.
“Verticality is achieved by large striking blade walls, that extend from the ground to above the roof line,” according to the submitted design statement.
