This article is from the Australian Property Journal archive
THE owners the Elements of Byron resort are setting themselves for a mammoth $380 redevelopment of the Kirra Beach Hotel, bringing luxury residences, a revamped hotel and a new additional hospitality and function venue to the southern Gold Coast.
The initial stage will comprise 118 luxury residences, with a mix of one, two, three and four bedroom residences, targeting the owner occupier market. It is expected to take two and a half years to deliver, and create hundreds of initial construction jobs plus many hospitality jobs over the lifetime of the project.
On completion the redevelopment will comprise 198 apartments, 78 hotel rooms and a new retail precinct across two towers rising from 10 and 15 storeys.
The pub itself, which dates back to 1956, will be demolished rebuilt as a two-storey venue with a rooftop bar and dining space at foot of the new development.
Brisbane-based KTQ Group, headed by Peggy Flannery and which has held the Kirra Beach Hotel site since 2010, is planning to launch the apartments in December, buoyed by the strength of the luxury owner occupier and downsizer market in south east Queensland.
Cru Collective has just sold out its $40 million Siarn Palm Beach North project nine months ahead of completion, and Paul Gedoun’s luxury Flow Residences at Rainbow Bay has nearly sold out with more than $70 million in sales in little more than two months. The $46 million fourth stage of Anchorage Apartments on the Hope Island waterfront recently topped out with 65% of stock sold.
The conditions have encouraged developers to move ahead with planning. Rayjon Group has received council approval for a $45 million apartment development in Burleigh Waters and plans to launch the project shortly, after enjoying success at its Vantage residences in Benowa.
“We have owned the Kirra Beach Hotel site for a decade and believe now is the time to execute what has been a very considered and thoughtfully designed plan for Kirra,” Flannery said.
KTQ Group is planning to start construction on the project in mid-2021.
“We have worked meticulously to envision and design a precinct that will not only become a destination in its own right for locals to enjoy but one that will accentuate the charm of the southern Gold Coast that we all know about,” KTQ Group development director, Jeremy Holmes said.
The family owned group’s Elements of Byron was completed in 2016 and has won multiple tourism and design awards, including the Urban Development Institute of Australia’s 2017 and 2018 awards for excellence in retail and regional development, and received the best hotel design in 2016 at the Society of British Interior Design Awards.
The resort has enjoyed strong occupancy rates after a three-month shutdown due to the pandemic. Almost all bookings for the next four months have been driven by record domestic tourism in the wake of international travel restrictions.
