ApartmentsLeon Della BoscaFri 07 Aug 26
Walker Corporation Reveals Plans for Tallest Tower on Sunshine Coast
Walker Corporation has filed plans for a 30-storey mixed-use tower at Maroochydore which would become the tallest building on the Sunshine Coast.
Dubbed Celeste, the tower would rise 98.77m on a 2376 sq m site at Lot 30, Sunshine Coast Parade in the Maroochydore City Centre Priority Development Area.
Trustee company Walker 51 First Avenue Pty Ltd filed the application on behalf of the Walker 51 First Avenue Property Trust.
It seeks a PDA Development Permit from Economic Development Queensland for a change of use covering apartments and shop tenancies.
According to the town planning report, Sunshine Coast Council and EDQ backed the proposal at the pre-lodgement stage. Final approval is pending.
Plus Studio designed the tower around a sculptural, scalloped concrete podium. It said the form draws on coastal sand formations and adds bronze mullions and brick screening, with public art to be placed at the corner of Sunshine Coast Parade and First Avenue.
Rooftop amenity would include a pool, gym, sauna, spa and dining room. Ground-floor retail space would total 241.2sq m and aims to lift street-level activity.
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Landscaping would cover 52 per cent of the site, spread across ground level, level four and the rooftop.
Overall, the plans propose 208 apartments across one, two, three and four-bedroom layouts, including two sub-penthouses and two penthouses.
That contribution would push Precinct 3’s cumulative total past its 700-apartment cap, according to the town planning report.
Height limits have proven flexible for Walker before. Not far from the proposed site for Celeste, the developer’s SOL by Walker twin towers won approval in January, 2025 on similar grounds.
EDQ had flagged that any building over the district’s height limit would need a public notification period. However, ministerial approval allowed a 0.85m excess without one and construction began in May of 2025.
Walker’s Festival Plaza site in Adelaide had approval for a three-storey retail building.
Planners later lifted the site’s height cap to 40 storeys, and the company reworked it into a 38-storey, 161m skyscraper beside the South Australian Parliament House.
Despite heritage advocates warning the tower would overshadow Parliament House and block city views, approval still came from the State Commission Assessment Panel in June, 2025.
That tower is now under construction and will be among Adelaide’s tallest all-electric commercial buildings.
