Architect-developer Adsett starts work on luxury $100m Rockpool project at Coolangatta

Brisbane design firm Joe Adsett Architects has started construction of its latest project, the $100 million Rockpool Rainbow Bay, it’s first development for the Gold Coast and its biggest project yet.

The architectural firm-cum-developer, which has previously undertaken small-scale projects in its home market of Brisbane, has appointed Tomkins Commercial to deliver the Coolangatta development.

Tomkins this week began preliminary works on the 1,194sqm Marine Parade site which was acquired from Gold Coast-founded Sunland Group (ASX: SDG) and is located next to the Greenmount Beach House Resort.

Sunland had previously cleared the site of two small-scale apartments as part of a major redevelopment planned for the Greenmount precinct, but those plans were abandoned as the company moved to wind up its development operations.

Greenmount Resort is currently owned by a private company controlled by Sunland directors Soheil and Sahba Abedian.

Joe Adsett Architects’ design for Rockpool continues the theme of upmarket beachfront developments in Coolangatta’s Rainbow Bay precinct that has found favour with cashed-up buyers.

It follows three Rainbow Bay projects undertaken by Brisbane’s S&S Projects, led by Paul Gedoun, which includes the $74 million Flow Residences, once hailed as one of Australia’s best-selling beachfront projects, and Awaken Residences, which set a record penthouse sale price of $8.15 million for the Coolangatta area.

Rockpool, which offers commanding views of the beachfront and the famed surf break of Snapper Rocks, will comprise 21 ‘sky homes’ with the $100 million end value of the project implying an average price of just over $4.7 million per apartment.

However, that figure is skewed by the value of the project’s 1,000sqm penthouse, the price for which has not been disclosed.

Joe Adsett Architects founder Joe Adsett says the start of construction will be followed by the release of the project’s three full-floor penthouses, which he says will be the first of its kind in the area.

The luxury development will largely comprise half-floor three-bedroom apartments from 245sqm, complemented by the three full-floor five-bedroom penthouses of 512sqm. The prices for the full-floor apartments also remain under wraps for now.

Joe Adsett Architects says it has secured contracts for 80 per cent of the project.

“I am pleased to announce that Rockpool is well and truly under way, and we look forward to seeing our vision come to life,” says Joe Adsett.

“Tomkins has been one of Queensland’s leading construction companies for over 70 years and is well equipped to ensure the delivery of the project.”

Adsett says the southern end of the Gold Coast has undergone ‘significant urban renewal and gentrification’ in recent years due to combination of high demand and scarcity of product.

As work starts on the Rainbow Bay development, Joe Adsett Architects is also gearing up for its first Sunshine Coast project.

Lagune, at Moffat Beach near Caloundra, is a smaller scale project to the Rainbow Bay development, comprising just five full-floor apartments.

Joe Adsett Architects has secured funding from ANZ (ASX: ANZ) for its Rockpool project, the fourth major funding facility provided by ANZ to the architect-developer in the luxury residential space.

Adsett partnered with ANZ and Tomkins to deliver Botanic, a bespoke multi-residential development completed last year in New Farm.

Adsett say his move into development after establishing his design firm in 2010 was a ‘natural extension’ of the skillset he says the business applies with its clients.

“Like a developer, architects by their very nature have been selling their designs ‘off the plan’ to their clients,” he says.

“Some of the advantages in being the architect and a developer is that we are able to exert more control over our designs to ensure that our vision for the project is realised as we had conceived.”