MRCB Tower Greenlit for Gold Coast Motel Site

Malaysian-based conglomerate MRCB has been greenlit to build a 20-storey tower comprising 192 apartments on the former site of a 1960s-era Gold Coast motel.

The approval, granted by the City of Gold Coast Council this month, supersedes previous plans for 133 apartments across 14 levels.

MRCB acquired the 1743sq m Sundale Motel site at 20 Queen Street, Southport, in August last year in a reported $7.25-million deal.

It swiftly lodged a development application a couple of weeks later following the launch to market of its $500-million, 51-storey 26 Vista project at Surfers Paradise.

MRCB International is a wholly owned subsidiary of the publicly listed urban property and infrastructure developer, Malaysian Resources Corporation Berhad.

Its scheme replacing the now demolished 26-unit Sundale Motel, which opened on the Southport site in 1969, has been designed by Plus Architecture.

Overall, the $200-million proposed tower to be known as Maris will accommodate a mix of 100 one-bedroom and 92 two-bedroom units—with the option of amalgamating units into three-bedrtoom apartments—above two basement, a ground and two podium levels.

▲ A rendering of the 20-storey tower approved for the site at Southport.

“The proposed redevelopment of this site represents an opportunity to provide well-located infill development, contributing to urban consolidation targets, whilst also delivering a mix of housing typologies … to provide much-needed housing to the CBD core,” a planning report said.

Communal recreation space will include a podium-top pool and deck, gym, sauna and lounge spaces as well as a rooftop with yoga and dining terrace.

In homage to the site’s past, the podium design incorporates screened areas built of breeze blocks, which became a popular feature of buildings in the 1950s and 1960s.

Parking will be provided across the basement, ground and podium levels.

The Southport site is near the Broadwater Parklands light rail station as well as the Broadwater and its popular parklands and the Australia Fair shopping centre. Its neighbours include Harry Triguboff’s Meriton Sundale Apartments and its associated retail precinct.