Developer H&F Property plans for a controversial 14-storey tower in Palm Beach at Gold Coast were conditionally approved during council’s first round of meetings since the election and Covid-19 restrictions started in Queensland.
The Melbourne-based developer, owned by the Hirsch and Faigen families, planned 78 residential and short stay units, a cafe and carpark at 1267-1273 Gold Coast Highway at the corner of Seventeenth Avenue.
This stretch of the Gold Coast is notoriously difficult for developers to gain approval with residents outwardly opposed to high-density buildings higher than the zoned 29 metres.
Exceptions to the city plan could be made for density and height up to 43.5 metres if a number of conditions were met including impacts on the local skyline which were met by the Rothelowman-design.
Gold Coast City Council officers said the development proposed a density of one bed per 10.14sq m was above the medium-density zonecode which mandated one bed per 33 square meters.
“Officers consider the proposed density to be appropriately serviced by infrastructure and contained within a built form design which is consistent with the envisaged character of the area.”
“Officers have considered all matters raised within the submissions and have recommended imposing specific conditions, where appropriate to assist in mitigating some matters.”
To go ahead with the 43.5 metre-tall build the developers would have to widen an easement along Jefferson Lane, resubmit drawings and amend minor details.
More than 120 submissions were made against the Seventeenth Avenue project including those from the body corporate of neighbouring block Surfers Holiday Horizon Apartment, which sits between the H&F Property development and the beach.
The majority of developments in Palm Beach were around eight-storeys high however an 18-storey residential tower exists at the corner of Nineteenth Avenue.
The 1,644sq m site is a vacant site, formerly tenanted by Rent a Bomb, was purchased for $3.85 million in 2016 and development application was lodged mid-2019.
H&F Property also have developments in Box Hill, Glen Iris, Abbotsford and Malvern East.
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