{"id":854308,"date":"2026-08-13T23:24:14","date_gmt":"2026-08-13T23:24:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/854308\/"},"modified":"2026-08-13T23:24:14","modified_gmt":"2026-08-13T23:24:14","slug":"plans-for-30-storey-tower-loom-large-over-sunshine-coast","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/854308\/","title":{"rendered":"Plans for 30-storey tower loom large over Sunshine Coast"},"content":{"rendered":"

A developer’s plan for a 99-metre tower on the Sunshine Coast has sparked fears about the region’s future as the population grows ahead of the 2032 Olympics.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Once a sleepy beachside village, the Sunshine Coast today is a rapidly booming area that now includes an emerging CBD.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But a proposal for a 30-storey high-rise to transform the Maroochydore skyline has triggered some residents’ fears that the region could become another Gold Coast.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"High-rise<\/p>\n

An artist’s impression of the future Maroochydore City Centre, described as Australia’s largest greenfield CBD. (Supplied: Walker Corporation)<\/p>\n

Sydney developer Walker Corporation has applied to the Queensland government to construct the largest tower on the Sunshine Coast.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The residential building with 200 apartments and penthouses would be in the new city centre, which allows for one “landmark” building up to 100 metres tall.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Residents fear ‘start of the end’<\/p>\n

Many residents are concerned this new tower could lead to maximum heights increasing down the track.<\/p>\n

Peter Cowan from Palmwoods said the region should stay “low-key” and eschew high-rise living seen on the Gold Coast.<\/p>\n

“Next minute we’re going to have shadows over the beach, people not being able to sunbake between certain hours,” he said. \u00a0<\/p>\n

“It’s the start of the end.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“We don’t need that stuff here; we don’t want it.”<\/p>\n

Nambour resident Jeff Spencer described the proposal as the “thin edge of the wedge”.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Woman<\/p>\n

Kate Harvey and Tracey Goodwin-McDonald (pictured) led M-TAG’s campaign against beachfront high-rises. (ABC Sunshine Coast: Amy Sheehan)<\/p>\n

“One tall building 1786663450, two and three in 20 years’ time. I’m obviously concerned about that,” he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“It’s almost like a developer’s paradise with these approvals with the Olympics.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

Kate Harvey from Mass Transit Action Group led a successful community campaign against light rail<\/a> for the Sunshine Coast.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“We’re not against growth generally, but we do have to protect our lifestyle here,” she said. \u00a0<\/p>\n

“The CBD is probably the most appropriate place to put any increase in density.<\/p>\n

“We are not the Gold Coast \u2026 we don’t want to see wall-to-wall high-rise along the coastal corridor.”<\/p>\n

Ms Harvey said the alternative to higher density housing was “some degree of urban sprawl”.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Business chamber supportive<\/p>\n

Maroochydore Chamber of Commerce president Brendan Bathersby said the proposed building was “iconic”.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“Don’t judge it on what it might look like today if it was built,” he said.<\/p>\n

“Understand that this is part of the Sunshine Coast that’s going to be developed over a period of years.”<\/p>\n

\"Render<\/p>\n

An artist’s impression of a major entertainment centre proposed for the Maroochydore CBD. (Supplied: Walker Corporation)<\/p>\n

“Is it different to what’s been on the Sunshine Coast forever and a day? Absolutely it is, but don’t compare it with Toowoomba or Hervey Bay.<\/p>\n

“A building like this \u2026 is not comparable to what happens on the Gold Coast.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“We’ve never going to have that.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“There’s a lot of naysayers and I understand a lot of people don’t want to see the Sunshine Coast change, but in areas like the city centre that change is going to happen.”<\/p>\n

The Gold Coast has more than 50 buildings above 100 metres in height.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Benefactor’s great-granddaughter ‘horrified’\u00a0<\/p>\n

Robyn Lister’s family has a historical connection to the land and she said she was “quite horrified” by the proposal.<\/p>\n

“My great-grandfather was Robert Horton and he originally donated that land to the Maroochydore people to be used for public use only. That was in about 1930,” she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"old<\/p>\n

Matilda and Robert Horton, the former owners of land that’s now the Maroochydore CBD, in a photo from circa 1940. (Supplied: Robyn Lister)<\/p>\n

The land became a golf course in 1950, before the council acquired the property for $42 million in 2012.<\/p>\n

The state government declared a priority development area in 2013 to take control of planning for the 60-hectare site.<\/p>\n

While several medium-rise buildings have been constructed already, the 30-storey tower would be the tallest.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“To think a high-rise like this is going to be built there, to me it’s part of my family history that’s being lost,” Ms Lister said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“It’s the last thing we need on the Sunshine Coast, that’s for sure.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“To think that area was originally donated to be used as a green area for the locals \u2026 it’s disappointing to hear something like that is going to be built on that block.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Golf<\/p>\n

The Horton Park Golf Club pictured in 2009 before it was acquired by the council in 2012 for the new CBD. (Supplied: Maroochy River Golf Club)<\/p>\n

Mayor defends election pledge<\/p>\n

A key plank of Sunshine Coast Mayor Rosanna Natoli’s election pitch was promising no new high-rises.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“New \u2013 meaning nothing that wasn’t already planned,” she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“What we’re talking about here is a building in a designated CBD area and that [information] has been out for many, many years.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“If the density and height goes here, it’s actually meaning [it won’t go] where we don’t want it to go, which is along the coastline and in our rural and hinterland areas.<\/p>\n

“So it’s protecting our lifestyle is the way I think about that.”<\/p>\n

Approval for the project sits with the state government, not the council, and it is under consideration.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Deputy Premier and Planning Minister Jarrod Bleijie said he was not aware of the project’s status.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But he said the Sunshine Coast could still retain its charm while simultaneously adding much-needed housing supply.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“The best thing we can do for affordability is availability,” Mr Bleijie said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“There are ways to keep the lifestyle of the Sunshine Coast but also provide housing for our children and our grandchildren.<\/p>\n

Walker Corporation declined to comment.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A developer’s plan for a 99-metre tower on the Sunshine Coast has sparked fears about the region’s future…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":854309,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[64,63,51705,99,424538,424543,424541,424540,424544,424542,424539,243458],"class_list":["post-854308","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-brisbane-2032-olympics","tag-business","tag-maroochydore-cbd","tag-sunshine-coast-2032","tag-sunshine-coast-cbd-tower","tag-sunshine-coast-high-rise","tag-sunshine-coast-house-prices","tag-sunshine-coast-olympics","tag-sunshine-coast-population","tag-walker-corporation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/854308","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=854308"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/854308\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/854309"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=854308"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=854308"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=854308"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}