IT’S MY DREAM HOME
THEME PARK TOWER PLAN
THE northern Gold Coast could soon become Australia’s answer to Anaheim as developers forge ahead with plans for a sprawling precinct of hotels and resorts bordering the city’s theme parks.
At Coomera, Dreamworld could be surrounded by a Disney-style neighbourhood after council yesterday gave the green light to a multitower project.
A proposal from developer Gordoncorp for three towers of up to 15 storeys featuring tourist and short-term accommodation as well as shops and restaurants has been given preliminary approval by Gold Coast City Council’s planning committee and is expected to be endorsed by the full council on Wednesday. The Gordoncorp project would sit on land opposite Dreamworld on Beattie Road, while the theme park itself is also considering hotels and resorts on an unused part of the Dreamworld site.
Combined, the two projects could turn the precinct into Australia’s answer to Anaheim, the metropolis surrounding Disneyland and California Adventure Park just outside Los Angeles in the US.
Nearby Movie World has also proposed a nine-storey hotel, golf resort and lakeside precinct.
Gold Coast City Council planning chairman, Councillor Cameron Caldwell, said the Gordoncorp proposal showed there was an appetite to move away from the decades-old model of families holidaying in Surfers Paradise or Broadbeach and making trips north to the coast’s theme parks, most of which are within a 5km radius between Coomera and Oxenford.
“The model of everybody staying in Surfers Paradise and travelling out to the theme parks is changing,” he said. “This proposal would service the theme parks and the indoor sports centre down the road which has been constructed ahead of the Commonwealth Games.
“It’s what goes on in other parts of the world such as Anaheim in the US.
“Families could base themselves there for sports carnivals or theme park holidays instead of having to travel up each day from the traditional tourist precincts.”
A Dreamworld spokesman said they welcomed new development in the rapidly changing Coomera precinct.
“As a tourist destination and major employer in the region, Dreamworld welcomes local development and growth that complements our neighbourhood and meets local area planning requirements,” he said.