Beckdev secure Coolangatta site, plan apartment tower
The Melbourne-based Beck development family have secured a landmark site in Coolangatta on the Gold Coast.
Beckdev, headed by property industry veteran Max Beck and his son Ben, has already engaged BDA Architecture to create Palais Coolangatta, an innovative apartment tower on the 31-35 McLean Street site.
The double block totalling 2,355 sqm homes Jazzland, one of many jazz halls that popped up in Coolangatta in the late 1930’s, as well as a car park.
Ben Beck, a director at Beckdev who relocated to the Gold Coast from Melbourne a few years ago, said they wants the tower to be sympathetic to the nostalgia and history of the location.
“This site holds an important part of the history of Coolangatta and our final design will reflect that,” Beck said.
“Our connection to the past underpins our sense of community, so it’s our intention to restore, re-use and recreate this unique social heritage to ensure the façade and dance floor live on in some form.”
Jazzland, which at one stage was known as Jazzland Dance Palais, officially closed in 1951, with its history and building lost to successive commercial and retail tenants for three generations since.
“We’re delighted to have secured such a prominent site for an exciting new residential development in the heart of Coolangatta, just a stone’s throw from one of the Gold Coast’s iconic beaches," Beck added.
“We’re now working closely with BDA’s architects to ensure this project is welcomed by the local community for an innovative design that also pays tribute to a long-forgotten part of our history that delighted so many generations before us."
About the developer
Max began his career as a carpenter with a major Melbourne building group, Clements Langford, who built the landmark projects, Myer Emporium and the Spires on St Paul’s Cathedral.
In 1976, Max established Becton, what was considered a respected and highly successful property development, construction and investment company that jump started his successes in the building and construction industries today.
Ben and Max are renowned for delivering a foray of quality and landmark developments in Sydney and Melbourne, including one of Australia’s most important heritage building restorations in 333 Collins Street in Melbourne.
Joel Robinson
Joel Robinson is the Editor in Chief at Apartments.com.au, where he leads the editorial team and oversees the country’s most comprehensive news coverage dedicated to the off the plan property market. With more than a decade of experience in residential real estate journalism, Joel brings deep insight into Australia’s evolving development landscape.
He holds a degree in Business Management with a major in Journalism from Leeds Beckett University in the UK, and has developed a particular expertise in off the plan apartment space. Joel’s editorial lens spans the full lifecycle of a project—from site acquisition and planning approvals through to new launches, construction completions, and final sell-out—delivering trusted, buyer-focused content that supports informed decision-making across the property journey
