The $50m project earmarked for the grounds of Noosa Springs Golf and Spa Resort
PLANS for a new five-star boutique hotel on the grounds of Noosa Springs Golf and Spa Resort, which would help overcome the region’s chronic shortage of luxury accommodation, are being considered by Noosa Council.
The proposed 106-suite boutique hotel, spanning five low-rise buildings and featuring a spectacular two-level swimming pool complex, would be the first luxury hotel in Noosa since the Sofitel was built in Hastings Street in 1989.
Boost for tourism
The project, expected to cost at least $50 million and create 360 jobs, would represent a substantial investment in Noosa’s tourism infrastructure, and addresses a significant shortage of short-stay accommodation in the region.
The project is the initiative of the GH Properties group, which has owned Noosa Springs Golf and Spa Resort since 2014. The project manager is Phil Starkey, whose family built and developed Noosa Springs from the outset into one of Australia’s most successful master-planned golf course residential resorts.
The proposed boutique hotel would comprise 98 standard rooms, six luxury suites and two presidential suites. They would be accommodated in five buildings nestled into the hillside around a central lagoon-style pool area, and designed to not protrude above the existing tree line. Although parts of the buildings are three-storey, from most external vantage points the hotel complex will look like a two-storey development.
The boutique hotel will include an outdoor fire pit seating area, a bar, café, lobby area and covered parking.
The hotel complex would complement and integrate with the existing Noosa Springs’ facilities, which include a championship golf course, golf shop, Relish restaurant, conference and function rooms, a world-class day spa, fitness centre and tennis centre. Services within the resort – including kitchen, dining, conference and bar facilities – would be expanded and improved, to the benefit of resort members and the general public, as well as hotel guests.
Community benefits
Guests would access the boutique hotel along a walkway which connects to a widened porte cochere at the existing entry to the Noosa Springs resort from Links Drive.“The proposal represents a significant tourist accommodation opportunity that will provide enormous community benefit,” Phil Starkey said. “It will augment the existing accommodation market and assist in growing local tourism.”
At present, overnight guests at Noosa Springs are accommodated in a letting pool of only 15 self-contained apartments that form part of The Fairways precinct, stretching along the first hole of the resort’s golf course.
“The number is grossly inadequate for the accommodation needed.” Mr Starkey said. “Many out-of-town groups do not consider Noosa Springs because there just isn’t enough on-site accommodation for them, so they go to other destinations rather than Noosa.”
The proposed boutique hotel would be situated on 3.8ha of land on the eastern side of the resort, bordered by Resort Drive and close to the clubhouse and spa complex. The site is about a five-minute drive to Hastings Street and 30 minutes to Sunshine Coast Airport.
When Noosa Springs was first developed in the 1990s, the owners were given council approval to build 544 dwellings and a 200-room hotel. At present, and including the Parkridge Noosa complex, which is built on land that formed part of the original Noosa Springs property, there are only 526 dwellings. And the proposed hotel would contain not 200 rooms, but 106.
Earmarked visitors accommodation
“Infrastructure capacity is therefore not an issue and the hotel will complete what was master planned for Noosa Springs at the outset,” Mr Starkey said.The site is partly located within a Tourist Accommodation Zone, while the remainder lies within a zoning of Recreation and Open Space. But the site, as a whole, is specifically The $50 million project earmarked for the grounds of Noosa Springs Golf and Spa Resort , in the form of a resort complex or short-term accommodation.
“The proposed development is consistent with that planning intent,” Mr Starkey said. “It has been designed to be compatible with the Noosa Springs architecture and will be constructed and operated in an environmentally sustainable manner.”A small, isolated pocket of vegetation, including some koala food trees, to the north of the site would need to be removed to allow for the new tennis centre to be built. A proposed environmental offset, and a plan to plant koala habitat trees within the Noosa Springs golf course, would result in a significant net gain of koala habitat in a more desirable and safe location.
“The proposed development will attract high spending visitors and represents one of the most significant tourism investments in the Noosa area for many years,” Mr Starkey said.
“It will provide a world-class accommodation experience and further support Noosa’s brand of luxury and high-end experiences,” he said.Ellen Guan, Director of GH Properties, said her company was very proud of the Noosa Springs Golf and Spa Resort.
