COAST KEY TO SEQ FUTURE
M1 FIX MUST BE IMMEDIATE PRIORITY
THE Gold Coast’s booming northern suburb of Coomera is welcoming $100s of millions in new investment – the only questions are what will come on stream first in major mall and marina projects.
The ribbon will be cut for the Gold Coast’s newest shopping centre in days but operators are yet to reveal which major retailers will be open at the time of the grand opening.
The management of Westfield Coomera insist the multimillion-dollar shopping centre will welcome the crowds on Thursday despite images last week revealing temporary lighting, construction workers in hard hats and pavers yet to be laid.
More than 140 dining, leisure, entertainment and fashion retailers are on the books for the 59,000sq m centre.
As of yesterday, however, just 50 stores had confirmed online they will be participating in the opening day festivities with a few others set to open later in the month.
Betty’s Burgers & Concrete Co, a popular beach-shack style restaurant, won’t open until October 20.
Event Cinemas and The Shed will also be hosting activities later in the week, skipping the first day festivities.
The new employees for KFC at the Coomera centre have also allegedly been told they won’t be starting until later in the month.
Big names including Rebel Sports, H&M, City Beach and JB Hi-Fi are yet to confirm when they will be ready for customers.
Westfield Coomera yesterday was unable to detail which stores would be open on the first day or how many leases were yet to be finalised.
They were also unable to outline the traffic management plan for the large numbers expected to arrive.
Instead, the centre released a blanket statement from centre manager Lauren Frew.
“We can’t wait to open our doors and welcome the community to Westfield Coomera this Thursday,” Ms Frew said.
“We’ll be bringing 140 dining, leisure, entertainment and fashion retailers to the centre, with the majority open from Thursday. We’re prepared and excited for a big launch, kicking off from Thursday and continuing over the weekend.”
Gold Coast City Councillor CENTRE MANAGER LAUREN FREW
Cameron Caldwell, who toured the site last week said the project, was a huge investment in the region.
“It is a very impressive development that offers a wide range of lifestyle needs for the northern Gold Coast,” he said.
“The centre has injected about half-a-billion dollars into the economy and will provide much-needed ongoing employment.
“It is one of the most impressive retail precincts that I have seen with cutting edge design and big name retailers.
“There are about 2000 workers on site working furi- ously and I expect that come the opening, it will be presented immaculately.”
Cr Caldwell said he was particularly impressed by the family play area on offer.
“The family play and recreation area looked really impressive, and the most outstanding feature I feel is the food and beverage offering high-quality and very diverse range of dining experiences,” he said.
MARINE HUB
THE extraordinary revelation in last week’s Bulletin
about two separate $100 million marina expansions stirred speculation about whether demand exists to cater for them.
The city’s biggest, Coomera’s Gold Coast City Marina, unveiled its $100 million plan to double in size and develop a further 20ha. Hours later The Boat Works up the road hosted a launch function to reveal it was about to start digging on its $100 million project that would eventually be home to the Marina Mirage of the northern Gold Coast.
A Boat Works source said it had started earthworks on doubling the size of its marina and wondered how far behind GC City Marina would be.
“Boat Works owner Tony Longhurst is a man of action. We don’t want this to be a marina war,” the source said. “But work has already started at the Boat Works.”
WE CAN’T WAIT TO OPEN OUR DOORS AND WELCOME THE COMMUNITY TO WESTFIELD COOMERA THIS THURSDAY