Eight-Tower $2.5bn Vision for Final Piece of Gold Coast Urban Puzzle

The vision for the final piece in a decades-old urban puzzle on the Gold Coast has finally been revealed. Up to eight towers delivering 1250 apartments are part of a $2.5-billion masterplan for the long-dormant 5.6ha waterfront site It is the last undeveloped parcel from a 343ha land holding surrounding Bond University where the suburb of Varsity Lakes rose in the late 1990s. Swooping on the site in a $45-million deal settled in 2022, Cru Collective—led by developer Chris Bolger—has spent four years conceptualising and creating the framework for Lake Orr Urban Village, its working title for the mixed-use precinct. “Projects of this scale require so much upfront planning,” Bolger told The Urban Developer, noting the site was about five times bigger than those on which some of the city’s other precinct-scale developments—such as the triple-tower Jewel and dual-tower Oracle—had been built. But with major hurdles resolved—having worked through extensive flooding and traffic issues with council and other government authorities—Bolger is now targeting a start to construction in early 2027, subject to approval. “The site has sat there for 30 years, drastically underutilised,” he said. “But no one will be more excited than I will after four years of planning to get into construction and delivery.” Cru Collective has taken the covers off the site’s future in a newly lodged application seeking preliminary approval for the masterplan as well as the green light for its first stage—an 18-storey tower comprising 138 studio, one, two and three-bedroom apartments. ▲ An aerial view of the long dormant 5.6ha site—next to Bond University and fronting Bermuda Street—bordering Varsity Lakes and Burleigh Waters. According to the documents, a height envelope of 109m—equivalent to about 30-plus storeys—is planned for future towers that would fan out along the waterfront, linked by ground-level tree-lined paths and shared podium-top recreation decks with pools, gyms, barbecue facilities and landscaped seating areas. “That’s just a maximum height,” Bolger said. “At the moment, the average across those eight planned towers is somewhere around 21 storeys. “It just gives us some flexibility down the track to adjust and redesign to where the market is at because this will be a 10 to 12 year delivery program, and those forces will change in that timeframe.” As well as its sizeable residential component, the urban village blueprint designed by DBI Architecture features a central publicly-accessible 2000sq m park, waterfront plaza and 600m boardwalk along its lakeside perimeter. Staggered, sawtooth positioning of the precinct’s towers has been designed to allow publicly accessible open and green spaces to make up about a third of the precinct. ▲ The masterplan propsosal for developer Cru Collective’s Lake Orr Urban Village precinct. Fronting Bermuda Street—at the southern end of one of the city’s largest north-south corridors—a lowrise market-style gourmet food, drink, and lifestyle emporium/retail village comprising 27 tenancies across 3800sq m of net lettable area is to be incorporated into the scheme as part of a separate, concurrent application. Additionally, other sites within the precinct have been earmarked for childcare and medical uses. In 2024, Cru Collective carved off a 3600sq m portion of the site—selling it to Odyssey Lifestyle Care Communities, which has plans to integrate a vertical retirement village into the precinct. “Such a prominent site within the city demands activation,” a planning report prepared by Urban Planning Services—describing the masterplan as “the missing puzzle piece to create a vibrant and appealing urban area”. “The Lake Orr Urban Village is intended to be an exemplar of an urban infill development. [It] represents the opening chapter in the delivery of a long-awaited landmark development, designed to benefit both residents and the wider community…revitalise the dormant site and create an infill urban neighbourhood. ▲ Renderings of the 18-storey apartment tower planned for the precinct’s first stage and market-style retail village ( bottom left ). “The proposal provides an opportunity to provide a far superior outcome for the city, in relation to visual amenity, liveability, recreational and green space opportunities in contrast to a development of the same type and yield that complies with the acceptable outcomes in the City Plan. “By contrast, if development was to occur in accordance with the acceptable outcomes in the City Plan, the built form outcome while being lower would be bulkier and more dense (presenting as a wall like structure) and provide a far inferior visual amenity outcome. “Further, the proposal would not be able to provide the same proportion of green and open space opportunities reducing the recreational and liveability aspects for residents and visitors alike. “The scale of this development cannot be understated and this will result in the creation of an iconic inland centre...however it will not be at the cost of the surrounding amenity.” A submitted architectural statement of intent said the proposal was seeking to create a “family of highrise buildings”. “This concept of a family of buildings is not unfamiliar on the Gold Coast. There are some notable examples…including the Star Gold Coast masterplan and the Jewel development.” Bolger said the masterplan was focused on livability and convenience rather than ultra-luxury. “Our vision for the site is to provide a genuine mixed-use, multi-generational community where you’ve got a meaningful amount of appropriate residential development,” Bolger said. ▲ A rendering of the first of up to eight waterfront residential towers proposed in the Lake Orr Urban Village masterplan. “And what I mean by that is, we’re not on the beachfront. We’re not seeking to target $25,000 a square metre for product. It’s more of an attainable product being delivered hand-in-hand with that convenience retail and community amenity.” Forecasts indicated population growth in the area surrounding the site—bordering Burleigh Waters and Varsity Lakes—“would demand in excess of 11,524 new dwellings over the next 21 years”. Bolger said as the Gold Coast marches toward a population of one million residents, inland centres such as the proposed Lake Orr Urban Village would increasingly shoulder the “heavy lifting” of much-needed residential supply. “I think these inland centres will start to play a bigger role in the city plan in future,” he said. “Certainly, we’re a very linear city but you can’t just jam everything along the beachfront. “I just don’t think that’s viable, and these inland centres…they’re going to have to do some of the heavy lifting in due course to be able to house everyone and to share the future population growth.”

Apartments
Phil Bartsch
Sat 13 Jun 26

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