Developer Stalls Noosa Hotel Plan Ahead of Council Decision

Developer GH Properties has launched an 11th-hour bid to resuscitate its plans for the first five-star hotel in Noosa, which the Noosa Shire Council was due to formally refuse at a council meeting this week. 

The council had signalled this week that it would controversially knock back plans to develop a four-storey $50-million 106-room hotel on the site of Noosa Springs golf course.

The council was due to formalise the rejection in a full council meeting on July 20, however developer GH Properties, a Golden Horse subsidiary, requested a stop of the current period, putting a handbrake on the process. 

Council officers had recommended the project, which would be the first five-star hotel in more than 30 years in the region, be approved—but elected councillors had announced their intention to reject the proposal. 

More than 400 submissions were filed against the planned 106-key hotel. In documents tabled at the council meeting and in an opinion piece in local media, Cr Brian Stockwell said that “part of the land in question at Noosa Springs was mapped in the biodiversity overlay with a clear intention to protect the vegetation”.

“Extensive clearing under the Biodiversity Overlay was required to build the eastern wing of the hotel,” Stockwell said. 

“This proposal also represents an excessive use of the Recreation and Open Space Zone land for an inconsistent use (the hotel) and does not achieve the desired outcomes for the zone.

“This proposal, as it stands, simply doesn’t fit the values our community rightly expects its council to stand by.”

▲ GH Properties acquired the Noosa Springs Golf Course in 2014.

UnityWater also objected to the hotel development and its closeness to sewage-treatment facilities. 

Hong Kong-based GH Australia director Ellen Guan said the delay in deciison making would give the developer an opportunity to convince councillors of the benefits of the hotel proposal, and avoid “remedial action”.

Guan said the hotel development would add much needed short term accommodation facilities in Noosa, where an economic impact assessment predicted a 683-room shortage for 2023.

“The considerable community benefit, along with many other relevant matters in support of the application, were not discussed,” Guan said.

“Since 2018 we have worked collaboratively with Council officers at great expense to prepare the hotel development proposal that clearly deals with all relevant planning issues.”

The developer, which also owns the Links Golf Course and Resort at Hope Island on the Gold Coast, purchased the Noosa Springs resort in 2014. 

At present, the resort features limited accommodation options and the addition of the hotel would have created 360 jobs through its development and operation. 

The initial resort plans from Marchese Partners comprised 112 luxury hotel rooms, two resort pools, a cafe, three tennis courts, and an outdoor fire pit and seating. 

According to GH Properties, the resort would “nestle alongside the existing clubhouse complex and offer guests first-class facilities and amenities unrivalled in the region”.

“We are left with an impression the consideration of all matters related to the decision have not been fairly considered and balanced, and are unjustified in the circumstances,” Guan said. 

It is unclear whether the council’s decision would be appealed, should it be formally rejected.

Another five-star hotel has been mooted for Noosa Heads—the Malouf family has teamed with architects Richards and Spence to create Noosa Calile, in a bid to replicate the success of the Calile on James Street in Brisbane. 

▲ A render of Calile Hotel Noosa, designed by Richards and Spence.

The plans are with Noosa Shire Council for the Calile Hotel Noosa, a 178-key hotel and 15 three-bedroom villas on a 2.4ha site at the well-heeled Noosa Heads. 

At the time of lodgement last year, Michael Malouf told The Urban Developer the bushland setting on Serenity Close would accommodate “generously proportioned facilities”, including multiple swimming pools, a tennis court, comprehensive wellness facilities, a cinema and function spaces.

He said the Calile Hotel Noosa would be looking to capitalise on the undersupply of integrated luxury resort accommodation in the Sunshine Coast’s northern reaches.