Australia’s Tallest Building Is Headed to Surfers Paradise.
It’s official. The Trump Organisation and Gold Coast developer Altus Property Group have signed a deal to deliver a 91-storey hotel and residential tower at 3 Trickett Street, Surfers Paradise, a site that has sat dormant for nearly 15 years.
At 335 metres, the tower is set to become Australia’s tallest building.
The Deal
The project, Trump International Hotel Tower Gold Coast, will comprise 285 hotel rooms, 272 luxury apartments and a private beach club on the former Iluka Resort site.
Altus CEO David Young travelled to Mar-a-Lago to execute the agreement with the Trump family, signalling that this is a formalised brand partnership rather than a preliminary discussion. The Trump Organisation confirmed it as its first official development in Australia.
As with other international Trump projects, the model is brand licensing. Altus will develop and fund the project, while the Trump Organisation licenses its name, global marketing platform and distribution network. It is a structure that has been replicated across major markets worldwide.
A Site With a Long Development History
The Trickett Street site has been one of the Gold Coast’s most closely watched dormant parcels.
The Iluka Resort was demolished in 2013. A 285-metre residential tower was approved in 2015 but never commenced. The site traded for $56.5 million in 2019, yet construction did not follow. For over a decade, it has been a prime beachfront holding without a project to match.
This announcement materially changes that narrative.
Market Implications
A 335-metre, internationally branded mixed-use tower of this scale introduces a new benchmark to Surfers Paradise.
The Gold Coast has long delivered strong lifestyle fundamentals and tourism numbers, yet ultra-premium globally branded product at this height and scale has been limited. A project of this profile is likely to influence pricing expectations for comparable luxury stock, draw increased offshore buyer enquiry and refocus attention on surrounding development sites.
Large-format, high-profile projects have a demonstrated effect on sentiment and capital flow. This one will be no exception.
What It Means for the Gold Coast Market
What the project brings to Surfers Paradise beyond the obvious headline is worth thinking about. Ultra-premium internationally branded accommodation at this scale has largely been absent from the Gold Coast market despite the city's genuine strengths as a destination.
The gap between what the Gold Coast offers in terms of lifestyle and what it has delivered at the very top end of the hospitality and residential market has always been noticeable. A 335-metre tower carrying one of the world's most recognisable luxury hotel brands starts to close that gap in a meaningful way.
Expect the conversation around the Surfers Paradise development market to shift as this project gains momentum. Surrounding sites will attract renewed attention, comparable luxury stock will be repriced against the benchmark this project sets, and offshore buyer enquiry will pick up as it enters its marketing phase.
That's simply what happens when a development of this profile lands in a market.
What Happens Next
A formal development application will need to proceed through the City of Gold Coast under Queensland’s planning framework. Given the proposed height and complexity, detailed assessment will cover building form, overshadowing, coastal interface, traffic and infrastructure contributions.
While the site has prior planning history, approvals for a supertall of this magnitude will take time.
After more than a decade of false starts, one of Surfers Paradise’s most prominent dormant sites now has a defined project and a global brand attached. Development Ready will track its progress through planning and into the delivery pipeline.
