First look: Mick Power set for two-tower Surfers Paradise apartment development
Construction industry boss Mick Power and wife Denise are set to develop an impressive two tower apartment project in the heart of Surfers Paradise.
The couple, who last year sold their prime Garfield Terrace site to Weiya Holdings for $30 million, will be developing two towers just a few hundred metres away at 1921 Gold Coast Highway, a sprawling 3154 sqm site the Power’s tried to sell late last year.
Part of the site is the popular D’Arcy Arms tavern, which will make way for the towers, dubbed Aubrey and Frederick after each of their locations on the corners of Frederick and Aubrey Streets.
How the two towers will sit in the Northcliffe precinct. Image credit: Buchan Group
It will be the 33-level Frederick Street building which will rise from The D’Arcy. That’s set to have 25 serviced apartments on levels four to eight, set above three hospitality spaces and below 72 one, two and three-bedroom apartments.
There will be 12 one-beds, 34 two-bed apartments, and 26 three-bedders. There will be a pool on level three as well as lounge spaces, and the level nine recreation deck, dividing the serviced apartments and the rest of the tower, will have a further two rooms, a sunset room and a sunrise room.
The activated ground plane at Frederick. Image credit: Buchan Group
Aubrey will rise 29 levels next door, with a similar density, but without the serviced apartments.
That will have 84 units, 10 one-bed, 54 two-bed, and 20 three-bed apartments, as well as a pool, landscaped spaces on the podium level, and its own sunset and sunrise rooms on level 23. The ground plane of the tower will also be activated, with four commercial spaces planned.
Architecture firm Buchan Group, who designed both towers, suggested in their design statement Aubrey and Frederick is pitched at “the missing middle”, likely in reference to its expected affordability compared to some of the towers that have popped up in recent years in the area.
The upper levels of Aubrey. Image credit: Buchan Group
They said Aubrey and Frederick will become the guardians to the entry points of the Northcliffe precinct, referencing the history of Northcliffe and the lifesavers at the Northcliffe Surf Life Saving Club which is documented in the book, Guardian of the Beach.
"As the southern marker of this junction, the towers guard Northcliffe from the south and represent the connection to Broadbeach and its union with Surfers Paradise," Buchan Group advised. They said together the adjacent developments stand as protectors of the Northcliffe precinct.
They note that the 'Guardians' capture the Gold Coast through vista and form, with 360 degree views of the coastline to the east and the hinterland to the west, Surfers Paradise to the north and south of Broadbeach.
The view from Aubrey. Image credit: Buchan Group
"Quintessential of the Gold Coast lifestyle, the architectural composition not only captures the history of the gateway site, it captures the lifestyle our city is best known for."
Mick Power is well known in the Gold Coast development industry. He's spent the last four decades as Group Board Chairman and Managing Director of BMD, a national group of companies engaged in engineering design, construction and land development.