GOLD COAST BULLETIN

Wednesday, April 2, 2014

A CHINESE consortium sought state government approval for an integrated resort and casino at Nerang, which it rated as a safer and superior entertainment destination than the tourist strip.

Deputy Premier Jeff Seeney announced details of 12 bidders that had submitted expressions of interest for three new casino licences.

In December 2013, Premier Campbell Newman indicated one licence would be given to the Queen’s Wharf development in the Brisbane CBD and two others in regional centres.

Ridong Australia, through its Eastern Success Group, is one regional bidder, with the ASF

consortium and its Broadwater Marine Project the other from the Gold Coast. Ridong was behind the government-approved $1bn Jewel development in Surfers Paradise, but few details are known about its proposed Nerang project on a massive riverfront site, just east of the railway station.

The 44.89ha site was settled for $22.88m, with Ridong Australia representatives suggesting it could become a signature project and rating it among the Gold Coast’s

most ambitious developments.

Property insiders confirmed DBI Architecture had created the design for the integrated resort but rejected speculation that the city’s tallest tower, at 100 storeys, would be part of it – as originally planned.

A property analyst said: “This is a $3bn project. It’s three times the value of Jewel. It is designed to give the Gold Coast a real night-life, a wholesome market, as opposed to the current offer – in other words, Surfers Paradise.”