Planning tick for twin towers at former Gold Coast caravan park
Gold Coast City Council’s planning committee has given the green light to a new twin tower residential development as part of the “renaissance” of Palm Beach.
Sunland’s Magnoli Apartments are planned for the former caravan park site on the corner of Gold Coast Highway and Nineteenth Avenue, with two 12-storey buildings, six terrace homes and a community park over more than 2000sq m.
The Gold Coast City Plan was overhauled in 2015 to allow for a maximum building height increase from seven to 12 storeys in Palm Beach.
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City Planning Committee deputy chair Amanda Gates says there is unanimous support for the project.
“There’s been a bit of a renaissance in the area of Palm Beach; it’s growing in interest at many levels,” Gates says.
“The business community and the restaurant scene are thriving, and this will be another improved development that provides another option of lifestyle.” Although concerns were raised about additional traffic in the area generated by residents of the 88 apartments, Gates says the development’s design aims to minimise congestion.
“The state government refused access from the Gold Coast Highway and Nineteenth Ave, so it is a local road (Brooke Ave) from which access will be achieved,” she says. “Our traffic team checked it out and supported it.”
The extension of the Gold Coast light rail to Coolangatta Airport in coming years would also benefit the project and help take pressure off the road network, Gates says. “It goes to the heart of our future planning and makes absolute sense,” she says.
As well as the parkland, the development features 380sq m of retail and commercial space, and expansive vertical planting to create the effect of a cascading urban garden.
Sunland Group managing director Sahba Abedian welcomed the planning committee’s approval of what he describes as a very desirable development.
“We are seeing considerable movement along the southern Gold Coast, with consistent growth in property values and sales,” Abedian says. “Much of this growth is coming from the immediate local market and investors from NSW.”
The application will go to the full council on Tuesday, and pending approvals Sunland plans to launch the development next year.
It is one of two major projects Sunland has in the pipeline for the Gold Coast with another residential tower earmarked for Hedges Avenue at Mermaid Beach.
A development application for the 44-storey, 99-apartment tower was lodged with the council on Monday.
Abedian says the height is in line with existing and future high-rises nearby.
This article originally appeared on www.theaustralian.com.au/property.
