NORTH STAR
The $500m town centre transforming Coomera
THIS is the first look at the $500 million Coomera Town Centre due to open next year, bringing desperately needed services to one of Australia’s fastest growing regions. What is being dubbed the economic heart of the north is expected to activate up to $1 billion in nearby development.
MORE than $1 billion of development in Coomera is back in the pipeline as the northern Gold Coast’s largest shopping centre takes shape.
First proposed more than 22 years ago, the $500 million first stage of the Coomera Town Centre is rising rapidly from the ground and is expected to welcome its first customers in late 2018.
But expect to see plenty more cranes rising from the
ground after the centre’s doors open.
The Bulletin can reveal up to $1 billion of further development is back in active discussions, with city leaders confident the centre will become the economic heart of the north.
Mayor Tom Tate and council planning boss Cr Cameron Caldwell have held meetings with developers and landowners who hold properties surrounding the centre who are activating their dormant projects.
They say the new retail hotspot will do for the city’s north what Pacific Fair did for Broadbeach when it opened in the 1970s.
The Bulletin understands QIC, which owns a significant parcel on the southern side of Foxwell Road, is considering its options.
Cr Tate said the construction was the result of a meeting held with Westfield bosses shortly after he was first elected.
“We stand here today to see a massive number of jobs being created and this becoming a major gateway to the northern part of the city,” he said.
“To have this confidence in the city is wonderful.”
Another developer, Polaris Coomera, has just gone to market on a 36ha industrial and mixed-use park immediately east of the town centre site.
Scentre Group chief operating officer Greg Miles said the project would form part of a large town centre.
“The future town centre will include community space, commercial, residential land and mixed-used elements which will complement the re-
tail and lifestyle destination we are current developing,” he said.
The new centre sits just 500m from M1 and next to the Coomera train station. It is expected to attract patronage from people as far north as Brisbane and locals from southern Gold Coast suburbs.
Among its features will be a Woolworths, Coles, Kmart, Target and cinema.
The development will also mean the green light for a major upgrade of Foxwell Road to allow for increased traffic. Area councillor and city planning boss Cameron Caldwell confirmed the roadworks would soon begin and described the project as “the moment Coomera comes of age”.
“We have heard about the jobs which will be created but this will mean so much to Coomera locals, it will be where they can have a wonderful lifestyle,” he said.
“On the back of this announcement we can confirm the upgrade of Foxwell Road will go ahead.
“For many years this centre was just a dot on the map but now it will be so much more than that.”
The centre was first proposed in the mid-1990s but was considered dead in the water before the idea was revived in 2013.
However the project was stalled because the former Newman Government refused to upgrade roads, including Exit 54 on the M1.