Long-time Gold Coast development company Niecon plans to add to Broadbeach’s allure as a family destination by building twin upmarket apartment towers separated by a lane laced with alfresco dining venues and classy boutiques. The $400 million venture is earmarked for a site that takes up almost an entire city block immediately south of the Oasis shopping centre.
A 50-level tower overlooking the ocean is planned at the eastern end of the site and a 40-level building, also with major ocean views, at the western end. The towers, which will have a total of 541 apartments, will be separated by a three-level retail, office and commercial area bisected diagonally by a road and with pedestrian accessways off Elizabeth and Charles avenues.
“We want to create a community, not just buildings,” says Niecon chief executive Constantine Nikiforides.
“Our project will rejuvenate and activate the area south of the Oasis and will reinforce Broadbeach’s reputation as an area that welcomes families and is a favourite with ‘locals’.
“We will extend and complement the Broadbeach central business district but we’re not attempting to replace it.”
The Nikiforides family’s influence on the high-rise market has spanned a quarter of a century and stretched from Coolangatta to Surfers Paradise. Bill Nikiforides, who arrived on the Gold Coast from Canberra in 1978, embarked on Coolangattta’s Aries tower at the start of the 80s. The 10-level Aries was the first high-rise completed in the beachfront strip and also had the distinction of being the first to provide shops at ground level.
Mr. Nikiforides, who passed away on December 10, went on to build the Alexander and Aristocrat towers in Surfers Paradise. His son Con joined him in the business in 1985 and, operating as Niecon Developments, they switched the focus from high-rises to Broadbeach retail and commercial projects and later low-rise resorts. At the start of the new millennium Niecon refocused on high-rises but at the luxury end of the market.
The company’s first project en route to its goal of becoming the Gold Coast’s pre-eminent developer of luxury apartments was Aqua at Labrador. The 20-level tower, which sits beside the Broadwater, comprises 105 apartments, a villa, and major ground-level retail and dining precinct.
Niecon is repeating its winning formula at Coolangatta with a twin-tower project called Reflection on the Sea. The final touches are being put to the 81-apartment first tower ahead of a start to the 128-unit second tower. The company has also assembled a beachfront site at Kirra, which is earmarked for another luxury apartment tower combined with boutique retail. Meanwhile, Niecon has just launched the biggest high-rise venture ever seen at Broadbeach.
“We are in an era where discerning buyers want more than just an apartment.
“In choosing to live on the Gold Coast they are buying a lifestyle.
“We are embellishing that lifestyle with our own touches and the residents love them.
“The proof is in the pudding and it’s very gratifying that other developers are now emulating what we pioneered at Aqua.”
- The Oracle is a world-class development of international standard that will become the prestigious centre piece of the Gold Coast.