Sunland blazing new trail
PEOPLE weighing up the merits and grandeur of Soheil Abedian’s groundbreaking plans for Mariner’s Cove only have to look at his impact on the Gold Coast.
The developer has been responsible for landmarks that have brought national and international significance to this city.
His signature building, the Q1 in Surfers Paradise, is much more than just a tall highrise. It has become a tourist attraction in its own right and an icon synonymous with the city and its skyline.
What Mr Abedian is proposing at Mariner’s Cove at The Spit goes a step beyond that, not just as a unique piece of architecture, but as a public facility that includes a world-class cultural precinct and museum, aquarium, pool, super-yacht marina and waterfront park.
Sunland say the $600 million two-tower project will spark an economic boom, creating 1652 jobs during construction and 1019 after, and inject more than $56.8 million into the city each year.
The sticky point in getting council approval will be the zone’s three-storey limit as part of the city plan, but given the scope and scale of the project and the likelihood of further developments nearby at the Sheraton site and by ASF, it is not going to look out of place.
Even the council sees the proposal as complementary rather than a competitor to its planned cultural centre at Evandale.
Mr Abedian says he wants the project to do for the Gold Coast what the opera house has done for Sydney. And his words should hold weight. Only this week former Prime Minister Paul Keating gave the hotel industry an uppercut, saying it was stuck in the ’80s and ’90s and if it wanted to attract a bigger share of the booming Asian travel market it needed to improve.
It was people like Soheil Abedian who recognised the sector’s tired state the last time, his Palazzo Versace transforming the hotel industry in 2000 to raise the bar not just on the Gold Coast but throughout Australia.
Whatever Sunland has touched on the Gold Coast has been a winner and Mr Abedian deserves confidence from the city that he can produce something even more stunning in this new development.