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The City of Gold Coast is calling for public submissions on a proposed $480 million sports and entertainment area to be constructed at Carey Park overlooking the Southport Broadwater, amid plans to grow the city’s events economy and potentially provide essential new infrastructure for the Brisbane 2023 Olympics.
The planned Gold Coast Arena, put forward by the city council, is described as a major “city-shaping” project that is expected to generate $1.5 billion in economic output and inject $700 million in value to the local economy over the next decade.
While the arena has yet to secure a commercial backer, the city council says a community consultation process is the first step towards shaping up plans for the site before opening a broader conversation with the investment community.
The move is also part of the city’s masterplan for Southport announced earlier this year to revitalise the Gold Coast’s official CBD.
Gold Coast Arena is designed to accommodate up to 12,000 spectators which the city says will help attract “a greater variety of international and national music acts, major sporting events and family entertainment to the Gold Coast”.
After engaging with the live music industry last year to identify potential sites for the arena, the council announced in May this year that it had given “in principle support” for the facility to be located at Carey Park.
However, the location created immediate controversy among locals with many concerned that the arena would absorb already scarce public open space in the city while also impacting car parking capacity for the CBD.
Carey Park also has been in the news for all the wrong reasons over the past year as the site of a homeless camp due to the city’s ongoing housing crisis, although authorities stepped in to clear the site of illegal campers in August.
The city council says that Carey Park was identified as the most appropriate site for the new stadium for a number of reasons, including its location within easy reach of three light rail stations, bus routes, CBD carparking, major arterial roads and a ferry service.
“We know the city is missing out on opportunities for elite sport and international gigs by not having a venue like this,” says Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate.
“And this site makes sense to me. It is located close to accommodation, public transport, food and beverage services and recreational activities which makes it a natural fit.
“But we want to know what you think. Not just about the preferred sites, but about the types of events you would want to see there.”
The public consultation process is currently open for submissions until Monday 9 December 2024.
Tate says the project is expected to be delivered and operated by a private consortium, which will be determined by the city’s own commercial transactions process.
The aim is to have construction underway on the project by 2026-27 for completion ahead of the Brisbane Olympics, as the city has also identified the facility as a potential venue for some of the Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games sports and culture events.
Tate says the city council plans to liaise with the Queensland Government, which owns the site, to “explore the most appropriate tenure to support an arena outcome”.
The Gold Coast Arena proposal is part of a broader masterplan for Southport revealed by the city council earlier this year in order to manage growth for the Southport CBD which has stalled in recent years.
Despite the suburb gaining Priority Development Area status in 2013 ahead of the debut of light rail services on the Gold Coast, Southport has failed to live up to expectations as a cultural and development hub for the city.
The Carey Park site was previously earmarked for a potential second casino on the Gold Coast in 2018, in a move that concerned The Star Entertainment Group (ASX: SGR) at the time.
The casino proposal came in the aftermath of the 2018 Commonwealth Games and followed the former state government rejecting plans by a consortium led by ASF Group (ASX: AFA) initially for an integrated resort, casino and cruise terminal at Wave Break Island in the Broadwater and later a proposed casino resort on The Spit next to Sea World at Main Beach.
Among the key issues currently facing Southport is the large number of vacant development sites in the CBD with big plans that have failed to materialise over many decades.
The council has previously indicated that the masterplan is not intended to override the PDA, but rather guide development of essential infrastructure needed to support sustainable growth for the Southport CBD over the longer term.
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