ALMOST PARADISE
Council committee all but seals the deal to extend controversial centre lease until 2050 – but there’s a catch
THE Holy Grail of Surfers Paradise real estate will undergo a $30m redevelopment – with conditions.
Council’s governance and administration committee voted yesterday to extend the Challenger Group’s hold on the Paradise Centre until 2050.
In exchange, the centre must be demolished and work begin on a new public plaza and dining precinct by March next year.
THE Holy Grail of Surfers Paradise real estate will undergo a $30m redevelopment – with conditions.
Council’s governance and administration committee sensationally voted on Thursday to extend the Challenger Group’s hold on the Paradise Centre until 2050.
It means the existing lease, due to expire in mid-2031, will be torn up and a new one signed by February 2021.
To honour the deal, the centre must be demolished and work begin on a new public plaza and dining precinct by March next year. Challenger has two years to finish the project and is required to give the precinct a facelift every 10 years.
Council’s rent on the site would also dramatically increase from $26,000 to $420,000 annually.
The future of the Paradise Centre has been a hot-button in recent years, given its location fronting the Cavill Avenue Mall and “run-down” state. Challenger Group has been the leaseholder since 1981, soon after the complex was built.
A number of city and business leaders called for council to take back control of the land when the current deal expired.
Area councillor Darren Taylor, who is working on a master plan for Surfers Paradise, gave an emotional speech at the meeting, pleading with his colleagues to return the land to the city.
“We are only 10 years away, we have the opportunity to rescue this piece of land and make a chance,” he said.
“We are purchasing land in the Robina green heart area but when will we invest in the best part of the city?”
Councillors William OwenJones, Brooke Patterson, Mark Hammel, Pauline Young and Ryan Bayldon-Lumsden voted for the new lease agreement. Cr Taylor and Cr Daphne McDonald voted against.
It will now go to full council on Tuesday for full approval.
Cr Owen-Jones, the committee chairman, said a redevelopment of the site in the short-term would allow for a boost to the area’s economy and help in the recovery from the COVID-19 downturn.
“This is an opportunity to help reshape the front of the Paradise Centre, which has a long and chequered history, and we have a significantly better proposal than what was originally proposed in previous iterations.
“The best thing we could do is change it rather than let it sit there for another 10 years.”
The alternative was to allow the run-down site to sit dormant until the existing lease expired, he said.
The committee’s decision comes 18 months after then councillor Gary Baildon and other identities lobbied for the centre to be returned to ratepayers so it could be redeveloped as a showpiece plaza. The application was declined.
The centre once played an important part of the Gold Coast tourism experience, especially for families, and included the popular Grundy’s water slides.