Gold Coast to welcome new $440m six-star hotel
Casino operator and developer Tony Fung has won approval to build a $440 million luxury hotel on the Gold Coast beachfront.
The Gold Coast council gave the tick of approval for the 48-storey development on Main Beach Parade, Surfers Paradise, with 580 hotel rooms and restaurants.
It has spruiked the Aquis Pacific Point development as the only large-scale new hotel currently planned for southeast Queensland not linked to a casino project.
Commercial Insights: Subscribe to receive the latest news and updates
Aquis Real Estate director Greg Benneworth says the development will be a “six-star” hotel that is well overdue in the Gold Coast market.
“It’s likely to be the first pure luxury hotel, with no apartments, developed on the Gold Coast since the Marriott Surfers Paradise back in the early 1990s,” he says. “We see some exciting times ahead for the northern end of the Gold Coast with a number of new tourism related projects and major public infrastructure projects planned there over the medium to long term.”
The Aquis conglomerate maintains a large development holding in far north Queensland and operates horse studs in the Gold Coast hinterland and Hunter Valley.
Separately Fung, who chairs Aquis Entertainment, this week told its annual general meeting the Casino Canberra increased gross gaming revenue 52% since before they acquired it in 2014.
It is awaiting feedback on an unsolicited proposal to the ACT government to develop the casino into a $307 million complex including a 10-storey hotel, villas, restaurants, nightclubs and bars and a shopping mall.
The company spent $13.6 million on a renovation.
Development on the Gold Coast has been buoyed by a $2.4 billion boost in infrastructure ahead of next year’s Commonwealth Games, as well as the entry into the market of international developers.
Dalian Wanda’s $900 million triple tower Jewel development on the beachfront at Surfers Paradise is under construction, and work is under way on the $1.1 billion Spirit tower from Chinese conglomerate Forise Holdings.
The council also granted approval for what would be Australia’s tallest tower, the $1.2 billion twin tower Orion development, from Chinese-backed Orion International Group.
The Star casino group, along with joint venture partners Chow Tai Fook and Far East Consortium, is also undertaking a $850 million redevelopment of its Broadbeach casino, including a new 200m tower and the addition of 700 keys into their hotel facilities.
This article originally appeared on www.theaustralian.com.au/property.
