REMEMBER WHEN

GOLD COAST BULLETIN Wednesday, June 23, 2004

PROPERTY giant Lend Lease came to the party — it was throwing its weight and expertise into a $1 billion-plus project that promised to put new zest and excitement into the revival of Surfers Paradise.

The international company finalised a deal that would see it develop up to 12 towers on sites spanning 5ha and owned by the Japanese group Daikyo.

Lend Lease, in a move that showed property development could be fun and games, planned to include a new concept in entertainment and retail facilities in a precinct around Cypress Avenue.

The towers, to be built in the next decade, were to provide about 2000 apartments.

Des Marks, the Lend Lease Development CEO, said that it was intended to provide “a fitting northern gateway” to Surfers Paradise.

“This development will be a catalyst for Surfers Paradise, transforming the northern end and providing a revitalisation of its retail, residential and leisureentertainment attractions. Since 2000 there has been a significant growth in demand for higher-quality developments,” he said.

Lend Lease said sales in the first project, on a Budds Beach site, could be under way by the middle of 2005.

It said the entertainment and retail project, still in its planning stage, were likely to come last in the development chain.

Trevor Beers, senior general manager for Daikyo Australia, said that the company opted to team up with Lend Lease because the company was “big enough and strong enough to go through the cycles”.

Despite these predictions the project failed to eventuate.