Morris Seizes ‘Window of Opportunity’ with Greenlit Gold Coast Dual Tower

A dual tower Gold Coast development has been given the green light at Broadbeach as prolific high-rise developer Barry Morris sniffs a window of opportunity amid challenging times.

Under the approved plans, Morris Property Group will deliver two residential towers rising 35 and 40 storeys on an amalgamated 2590sq m site at 9-15 Armrick Avenue.

The towers will comprise a total of 339 two and three-bedroom apartments—182 in the taller western tower and 157 in the eastern tower.

Morris told The Urban Developer the project would be staged “one tower at a time” and launched to the market in May.

He said despite the tough conditions in the face of inflated construction costs, crippling labour shortages, economic uncertainty and interest rate hikes, there was still market demand.

“But it’s not a walk in the park, let me put it that way,” Morris said.

“We’re aided by the fact that we’re a fully integrated business and we’ve been doing this for 45 years. We have our own construction teams. We have established relationships with subcontractors.

“I’m not suggesting for a moment that our construction prices haven’t gone up like everyone else’s but, you know, we’re running a marathon not a sprint.”

Morris said the increasing number of projects being mothballed or abandoned had created a “window of opportunity” for developers with the resources to keep their pipelines going.

▲ Render of the dual tower development approved for Armrick Avenue, Broadbeach.

“Our general view is the market has normalised and we’re back to pre-Covid type demand,” he said.

“Pricing has gone up representing the increase in construction costs.

“But the fact that a lot of projects won’t proceed, because people can’t find builders or their projects don’t stack up because building prices are so high, does give those that are still in the market, and do have the resources to keep it going, a window of opportunity.”

Morris said construction at Armrick Avenue was expected to begin in September-October and due to the size of the site and the project’s five basement levels “there’ll be a fair bit of time in the ground”.

“So while we’re doing that groundwork, we’ll be able to continue to be in the selling stage of the project.

“We’ll be in the ground for 12 months before we hit the podium level and we’ll keep going with the first tower. That’s over 18 months from now for sales and marketing so we think we’ll be well positioned.”

▲ Construction of Crest Broadbeach is expected to begin in September-October.

If all goes to plan, the first and tallest tower will be completed by mid-2026 and the second by the end of 2027.

Each tower will have independent communal open space areas on level 1 with amenities such as swimming pools, gymnasiums, indoor and outdoor lounges, barbecue facilities, yoga lawns and extensive perimeter landscaping for privacy.

As well, there will be a total of 408 basement carparking spaces and 143 bicycle spaces.

Morris Property secured the four-lot Armrick Avenue site across the road from the Broadbeach Bowls Club in two transactions—the first twin-title site for $8.8 million in 2021 and the second last year for $11 million from the Brisbane-based Turrisi Properties after the company pulled the pin on its Gold Coast debut.

Another dual tower development on Morris Property’s workbook also has been granted approval by the Gold Coast City Council for a 3035sq m site with frontage to Australia and Britannia avenues at Broadbeach.

It will comprise a 40-storey northern tower and 27-storey southern tower for a total of 348 apartments but Morris said it would follow the Armrick Avenue project.