Sunland plans a retailing colossus
THE man behind iconic Gold Coast buildings Palazzo Versace and Q1 wants to build the first mega shopping centre in the central city in more than 20 years.
Soheil Abedian and his son Sahba, of development giant Sunland, yesterday lodged plans with the Gold Coast City Council for a $200 million, two-level centre at Clear Island Waters.
Named The Lanes, the project would be built on 6ha on the corner of Bermuda St and Hooker Boulevard and feature 80 shops – cafes, restaurants, a fresh food hall, health and wellbeing services and cinemas – across 17,000sq m
Residential towers featuring “boutique lakefront apartments” overlooking the waterway would be built in future stages of the centre. The entire project is worth more than $1.3 billion.
While the Coast’s fastgrowing northern corridor has enjoyed a mega mall boom with Westfield Helensvale and Coomera Town Centre, The Lanes will be the first major shopping centre built in the central city since Robina Town Centre opened in April 1996.
Sunland managing director Sahba Abedian said work would start in early 2019, pending approval, and the centre would open by Christmas 2020.
“Our vision for The Lanes is to create an expansive lakefront retail and lifestyle destination where beautiful green spaces are interwoven with urban laneways, food markets, unique retail and dining offer- ings and leisure experiences,” he said.
The building was designed by Gold Coast-based architectural firm Blight Rayner, along with Sunland’s in-house design team. It focuses on intricate brickwork and “captivating archways”.
The centre will feature a mixture of high street and village retail spaces and its centrepiece will be a fresh food market hall inspired by those in Europe.
It will have a 15m-high glass ceiling with curved timber and “artisan” brickwork.
A boutique independent eight-screen cinema will be at the heart of the centre with premium seating, in-movie dining experiences and a large outdoor entertainment space.
Mr Abedian said Sunland was in negotiations with prominent retailers to take up space inside the centre.
“The Lanes presents an opportunity for retailers to become a part of this vibrant masterplanned environment, which over the next decade will become home to more than 3000 residents, all living within walking distance of the retail village,” he said.
The project is expected to create about 700 jobs once finished.
Sunland bought the site in 2015 and is developing the remaining sections around the shopping precinct as The Lakes masterplanned community, having already sold more than $94 million in housing.
The first stage of The Lakes is expected to open by June next year.
THE LANES PRESENTS AN OPPORTUNITY FOR RETAILERS TO BECOME A PART OF THIS MASTERPLANNED ENVIRONMENT SAHBA ABEDIAN