73-level skyscraper coming to Surfers Paradise beachfront
High-rise king Harry Triguboff is charging ahead with one of the largest ever projects in Queensland holiday mecca Surfers Paradise, as projects by Chinese developers face an uncertain future.
The tycoon, an experienced hand on the Gold Coast, has unveiled plans for what he says will be his first beachfront tower in a 54-year development career, with the eye-catching 73-level super-tower, Ocean, slated to eclipse the scale of rival projects.
Ocean won’t be the tallest building but will have almost 200 more apartments than the nearby Q1 tower. All up it will hold 722 apartments, with 319 run as serviced apartments under Triguboff’s lucrative Meriton Suites brand, helping to reduce risk on the complex.
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The project will be the 84-year-old tycoon’s 19th Gold Coast high-rise and, with characteristic self-belief, he expects it to be by far his most successful.
“The Gold Coast is the flavour of Australia in property terms,” Triguboff told The Weekend Australian. “Other major markets are in a state of flux and buyers are turning their eyes to the Gold Coast, where Ocean will be right in their vision.”
Triguboff, who is heavily invested in Sydney, has previously labelled the city’s apartment market “not that good”, partly due to the difficulties many buyers had getting money out of China.
Chinese developers are also finding the Gold Coast is not producing the easy returns that drew them to the area.
A proposal by Chinese developer Forise for what has been pitched as the southern hemisphere’s tallest building, the $1.2 billion Spirit tower, has lost momentum after local firm The Agency pulled back from marketing the tower, claiming the Chinese conglomerate had not delivered on its obligations.
Nevertheless, Forise is still marketing the 89-storey Surfers Paradise beachfront complex, which is expected to sport multiple infinity pools, in China.
The future of the $1 billion, three-tower Jewel project, also on the beachfront, by Chinese developer Wanda-Ridong, remains uncertain as Dalian Wanda Group’s chairman, Wang Jianlin, reorganises his holdings after a clampdown on offshore investing driven by Beijing.
Triguboff’s Meriton paid $58 million in March for the ageing International Beach Resort that will be the site of his development.
The tower will rank third on the Gold Coast in terms of floors — the Soul tower rises 77 floors and Q1 has 74 — but most critically building will actually start by March.
The tycoon is passionate about delivering a building that is in tune with the ocean and beach at Surfers Paradise.
“Getting there hasn’t been smooth sailing,” he admits, after months of refinements and dealing with the city council.
Triguboff’s first Gold Coast towers were Florida in Surfers Paradise and the Nelson at Paradise Waters at the start of the 1980s. He built three high-rises — the two-tower Xanadu in the late 1990s and Pacific Views in 2002 — that overlook the ocean but are separated from the sand by beachfront properties.
Now he is bullish about the prospects of his site.
“I believe Ocean will bring a new dimension to the beachfront strip,” he says.
This article originally appeared on www.theaustralian.com.au/property.
