30 YEARS OF ODD SPITBALLS
People have been coming up with ‘solutions’ for The Spit for over three decades.
YEARS change but the desire to redevelop parts of The Spit remain the same.
For more than 30 years, developers have wanted to make their mark on the peninsula.
In recent weeks steps have been taken from two different players for different parts of The Spit to be transformed.
Developer Tim Gordon, of Gordon Corp, filed a development application to convert the dilapidated former Golden Door spa next to the Sheraton Grand Mirage into a shopfront believed to be a sales centre for his proposed Village Centre, a $100m, three-storey luxury residential precinct next to Mariner’s Cove.
The Golden Door site itself will be razed and replaced by a resort. Its final developer is unknown.
Meanwhile, a native title claim was lodged with the Federal Court by the KombumerriNgarangwal Saltwater People “reaffirming our legitimate rights to our land, the resident traditional owners of the broader Gold Coast lands and waterways at the southern end of Quandamooka Country’’.
The native title claims were signed by senior elder David Dillon and Anthony Dillon, on behalf of the traditional owner families, with plans to turn it into a resort and possibly a second casino for the city.
It calls for a review of The Spit masterplan, which it says lacks vision, integrity and respect. The new proposal also includes provision for a cable car.
Dubbed indigenomics, the plan is to create a consortium and make the Kombumerri Ngarangwal Saltwater people self-sufficient by using The Spit for their own commercial purposes. The claim remains before the courts.
This week marks 10 years since one of the most controversial redevelopment plans for the Broadwater was unveiled.
In late July 2012, as the London Olympic Games began, Singapore developer Sembawang put forward plans for a $4.9bn cruise ship terminal and resort development on Wavebreak Island.
Under those plans, the terminal was to be capable of docking two 300m luxury ships, or up to four smaller vessels.
A new artificial island was to be built next to Wavebreak to house the bulk of the masterplanned residential and tourist community.
Beyond a six-star, 1500room resort, the precinct was to include a casino, an aquarium, shops, a theatre, cultural centre and commercial space.
Boaties would have been able to pull up to a 400-berth marina and there would have been berths for up to 12 superyachts, with a bridge built from the mainland to the islands, giving people without boats access to Wavebreak for the first time.
The company’s chief executive, Ric Grosvenor, dubbed the project the “resurrection of the Gold Coast”.
“If it’s positive then we’ll move forward … if the public is generally against it, we move on,’’ he said.
“This city has changed so dramatically since Japanese tourism fell away. It’s a ghost town.
“We need to inject hope. It would be crazy not to do it now.’’
He said the Gold Coast was chosen because it was the “gateway to Australia’’, and seen internationally as a safe and desirable destination.
“We’re bringing in funds locally, nationally and internationally,’’ Mr Grosvenor said.
But the project copped significant criticism from locals and Mayor Tom Tate, who would not back a casino on the site. It was a surprise turn of events from Mr Tate, who had been elected just three months earlier on the back of a campaign promise to build a cruise ship terminal and calls for another casino.
The state government of then-premier Campbell Newman was also uneasy about the proposal.
But Mr Grosvenor was undeterred and said he was prepared to slap $250m on Mr Newman’s desk to prove his proposal was no joke and to stop what he describes as ‘‘powerful forces’’ snuffing it out.
He said the money would be given to the state government as a bond if his ambitious plan for a super resort, casino and cruise ship terminal on Wavebreak Island was approved.
The money, he said, would be forfeit if Sembawang breached any conditions set down by the government, such as deadlines or environmental protections.
Mr Grosvenor said it was an unusual step, but it had to be taken because there were ‘‘big players’’ in the gaming and casino industry who were acting out of the public’s view to stop Wavebreak from going ahead.
‘‘There are other big players in Australia that would like to see the casino option erased knowing it would sink the project, knowing it would further their own ends,’’ he said. ‘‘There are powerful forces at work that would like to see a monopolistic throttle hold on gaming in Australia.’’
The move still failed to build any political will for the project and Sembawang pulled out of the Gold Coast market a handful of weeks later.
Several further proposals to redevelop The Spit and Wavebreak Island have been floated in the past decade, but none have gained the political support to proceed.