Tall & Urban News

The Gold Coast City Council has approved the twin-tower Wanderlust project being developed by EG Funds Management in the heart of Surfers Paradise.

The twin-tower high-rises will reach 56 and 72 stories and provide a total of 770 apartments and 400 hotel suites. The development is earmarked for a 5,255-square-meter site between Orchid Avenue and Surfers Paradise Boulevard – the center of Surfers Paradise’s entertainment and nightclub district.

Designed by Elenberg Fraser, the mega-project was submitted for council approval in August 2017. Sydney-based EG Funds acquired the site from Cromwell Property Group in 2010 for AU$42 million (US$32.4 million).

Billed as an “entertainment hub for South-East Asia,” the precinct will replace the current nightclub district with the Wanderlust Pool Club, a podium-level hub expected to attract world-class DJ and entertainment acts to the Gold Coast.

The entertainment component of the development comprises a 4,325-square-meter pool club with bookable pool-side cabanas, entertainment suites, and a performance stage.

“The development is an incredible opportunity to create an entertainment precinct that is geared towards international acts and performances,” EG Funds development director Grant Flannigan said.

“We feel that this is a piece of the bigger strategy to reinvigorate the Gold Coast and create a sense of place and culture in the daytime as well as the current night-time atmosphere.”

The residential component of the scheme will start on level three of the 72-story tower. Four levels of basement car parking will provide 492 car spaces.

The Gold Coast has experienced a major boost in infrastructure and public transport in the lead up to the Commonwealth Games, with an estimated AU$2.5 billion (US$1.9 billion) spent on public transport and upgraded infrastructure.

The Wanderlust approval comes just a month after Chinese developer Sheng-Lan Group won approval for their dual-tower hotel and residential project on River Terrace in Surfers Paradise.

The projects join other recent Gold Coast developments including Citimark’s Markwell Residences, Spyre Group’s  Broadbeach apartments, Bensons Property Group’s  Chevron One, Sunland’s  Hedges Avenue high-rise and Broadbeach’s “The Beach” apartments.

For more on this story, go to The Urban Developer.