Tower plans galore near the bowls club
AFAMILY who has developed thousands of homes and lots in Brisbane and the Sunshine Coast has “rolled” back plans for a Broadbeach tower on land offering the green and the blue.
Turrisi Properties last year unveiled its intention to build a high-rise loaded with “coastal residences” in what has become a hotspot – a short section of Armrick Ave.
The venture was to mark a Gold Coast debut by the group, started by Gaetano Turrisi – a developer since the 1980s – as the new millennium was ushered in.
The group gained a planning green light in November for the 22-floor project, on a site on the northern side of the Broadbeach Bowls Club and parkland – and in which some apartments would have ocean views.
Now Turrisi, which has built the odd medium-rise building and commercial projects, has had second thoughts and put the Armrick Ave site on the market.
The word is the Gaetano’s group has decided it will shelve its tower ambitions and stick to its largely residential knitting.
The Armrick Ave amalgamation exercise, involving the 12 units that make up the Bosna Court and The Rinks buildings, cost a Turrisi company $7.45m in 2020.
The result was that it owned a near 1300sq m site with enviable “green” views.
Other developers long have eyed the section of Armrick Ave that sits between Old Burleigh Rd and Surf Parade and has two retail and office properties as bookends.
Five years ago, the owners of Bosna Court and The Rinks teamed up with the owners of the neighbouring The Greens to test the market with what was a 1941sq m site. There were, by all accounts, lots of lookers but no deal was consummated.
Since the Turrisi plan for a “modernist” coastal tower designed with features such as a Zen garden and beach showers was announced, two even bigger projects have been unveiled for the short Armrick Ave strip.
Another Brisbane family group, the 50-year-old Ferro Property Group, in November revealed it was planning a 46level building called Casa Beach. The site, which is costing it $13m, has frontages to both Armrick Ave and Old Burleigh Rd and is occupied by five-title, low-rise Casa Del Mar and a commercial property occupied by a cafe, a BWS outlet, and a fish shop.
The commercial holding has been sold by property figure Bob Hill, who bought it for $1.8m in 2004.
Barry Morris, a tower developer with a penchant for Broadbeach, three months ago set the planning wheels in motion for a 38-floor tower.
His 1294sqm site takes in The Greens low-rise and a vacant parcel on its western side.
Bowlers who ply their skills on the Broadbeach greens could have a vastly bigger audience if the Ferro and Morris projects get under way and a new owner of the Turrisi land uses the site’s approval.
The three projects could in total deliver 300 apartments.
An upside for the bowls club could be that the multitude of new residents in the area will keep the tills ringing in the club’s bar and dining area. Meanwhile, Antonio Mercuri and his GV Property Group, who are marketing the Turrisi holding via expressions of interest, apparently have other site irons in the fire nearby.
GV’s already well established as the major operator when it comes to putting together and selling development land around Broadbeach.