Up, up and away: Star’s casino supertowers transform skyline
The Star Gold Coast construction frenzy on the tiny casino-dominated island at Broadbeach has reached a new milestone with the next supertower about to start rising from the ground.
Foundation work has begun on the unnamed $400 million, 63-storey “tower 2,” which will actually be the fourth hotel option for visitors to the Gold Coast casino resort.
It joins the existing Star Grand, the luxury all-suite Darling, and the the under-construction Dorsett Hotel.
The new tower will house 210 five-star hotel rooms, expected to operate as a Marriott brand W Hotel, and 457 apartments for residents and guests called The Epsilon.
It will feature a six-level podium containing more than 12,050 square metres of retail space, along with a day spa, wellness centre and restaurants. A giant sundeck will include a large lagoon pool, private cabanas and more dining areas.
It is expected to be completed by mid-2024.
The Star Gold Coast has the capacity for another three hotels at the site, taking the potential total to seven, under its $2 billion masterplan for the island approved by the State Government in 2018.
Work starting on the new tower lifts Star’s current investments in south east Queensland to almost $4.5 billion, with The Star also frantically progressing the $3.6 billion Queen’s Wharf development in Brisbane with partners Chow Tai Fook and Far East Consortium.
Destination Gold Coast Consortium Project Director Jaime Cali said the building work on the latest tower was steaming ahead, following the completion of demolition on the site.
“We’ve now finished demolition work and we’re about to commence piling and in-ground activity,” she said.
“Part of it will be built where we originally had a billboard located on the site, there was a fair bit of land there, and adjoining the existing carpark site.”
She said around 280 piles, that were each around 40 metres long, were being drilled into the ground for the 200m tall tower.
Around 32,000 cubic metres of concrete, enough to fill 17 Olympic-sized swimming pools, would be poured for the 200m tall tower.
About 76 per cent of the apartments in the new tower have already sold, with only two-bedroom apartments remaining.
More than 90 per cent of the 390 apartments in the 54-storey Dorsett hotel and residences, which is the first of the new towers that will open in late 2022, have also sold.
