Raptis Lodges Plans for Gold Coast Tower

Gold Coast property developer Jim Raptis has lodged a development application for a high-rise apartment tower at Broadbeach.

Raptis, under the entity Patmos Development Management, wants to build a 40-storey Koichi Takada-designed tower comprising 134 apartments on a 1550sq m site.

If realised, the building at 6-8 George Avenue would overlook Surfers Paradise and Broadbeach and be 155.5m high.

It would be similarly positioned to the 45-storey Oracle Tower, north of the site, and Ultra Broadbeach, a 32-storey hotel, to the south-east.

It would be next to the Broadbeach State School and close to Nobby Beach and Surfers Paradise.

The development proposes two levels of basement car parking, a ground-level lobby with visitor parking, two levels of podium car parking and a full floor of recreational amenity on top of the podium.

The site, currently occupied by a low-format, two-level building, sits within the high-density residential zone and is also identified within a frame area of the light rail urban renewal overlay.

Raptis, the head of Raptis Group, became known for early developments on the Gold Coast including St Tropez, The Aegean, Acapulco, Biarritz and Olympus before moving on to properties such as Monte Carlo, Le Boulevard, The Forum, The Moroccan and Chevron Renaissance.

The group was first listed on the ASX in 1986 but has twice been delisted—in 1991, owing investors $65 million, and most recently in 2008.

After the global financial crisis in 2009 the Raptis Group collapsed with $940 million in debt to nearly 30 banks and financiers.

The developer, which had originally proposed the $700-million Hilton Hotel complex at Surfers Paradise before being rescued by Brookfield, completed that project in 2011, and has since climbed its way out of administration.

Raptis re-listed the group in 2015 and also runs a separate and unrelated development company with his son Evan Raptis.

The latter has a substantial workbook under way with developments totalling 500 units, either under construction, approved for development or in the planning stages.

Second Avenue Development Management, which lists Jim Raptis as its sole ­director, is currently close to finishing a 21-storey, 90-apartment Broadbeach tower called The Gallery.

Last year, work began on Paul Little’s Signature Broadbeach, a luxury 35-storey tower, while construction is also moving ahead at the Broadbeach Island site of The Star Group’s $2-billion, 54-storey tower, which will house The Dorsett Hotel and the Star Residences.

Nearby, Meriton’s 332 suite, 76-storey high-rise tower on The Esplanade in Surfers Paradise is nearing completion.

Once complete in July, Meriton’s Ocean development will stand 40-storeys taller than any other tower on the Gold Coast strip and will offer 711 apartments and hotel suites, plus cafes and restaurants on the ground and first floors.