Silence and mystery surround a $250 million hotel, apartments and retail development project that was touted as “unlike anything before on the Sunshine Coast”.
Australian urban development projects information website Urban.com.au has listed Paloma Paloma – on the old post office site-turned-display office at the top of town at 1 Bulcock Street, Caloundra – as “not proceeding”.
Nothing has appeared on the project’s social media since an Instagram post on August 31 last year.
One Sunshine Coast News reader said he had walked past the sales centre that appeared to have been deserted for some time, with dead plants inside and “three dead birds arranged in a line in front of the windows”.
“I tried calling the number on the website but it just goes to voicemail,” he said.
Another business source in the main street confirmed the sales centre had been closed “for at least six weeks”.
Developer CURA Habitas Pty Ltd remains registered on the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) website as an Australian proprietary company based in Melbourne. ASIC’s website says CURA Habitas’s next registration review date is April 4.
But attempts to contact the company by email and the number listed for inquiries through its website have received no response to date.
A Sunshine Coast Council spokesperson said the council was currently assessing a minor change application for the development.
The decision timeframe had been extended several times at the request of the applicant, to allow the company to provide the council with additional information, the spokesperson said.
“These extensions have occurred in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Planning Act 2016,” they said.
“This application remains within the assessment process and as the extensions are applicant driven, they would be best placed to answer further questions.”
Further details of the application can be viewed on the council’s Development.i website (application reference: MCU19/0304.01).
The developer’s website says CURA is “built upon a 20-year collaboration across a vast range of projects and transactions across the globe”.
“Expertise in finance markets and experience across the Americas, Asia and Australia is forged with a truly unique supply chain pedigree across design, production, development and delivery expertise,” the website states.
CURA’s website describes Paloma Paloma as “a pinnacle of brilliant international design, of exceptional curated experiences and of world class service and hospitality – an integrated collage of hotel, resort and hospitality is woven through with the best in class residential and lifestyle offers ever seen on the Sunshine Coast”.
Paloma Paloma was to feature a hotel tower, residential tower and three levels of retail and dining.
Stretching an entire block – some 5000sqm – and fronting three streets, the project architect Dylan Brady, of Decibel Architecture, believed the “iconic” design – featuring a residential tower in the image of a cruise liner and scalloped balconies resembling the area’s rock shelves – would “re-imagine the Sunshine Coast”.
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Sunshine Coast News contacted the architects for further comment but did not receive a response.
Great fanfare surrounded the unveiling and official launch almost a year ago on April 4.
It was heralded as having an “unrivalled collection” of 74 private two- and three-bedroom apartments.
At the time of the launch, prices for the four penthouses ranged from $3 million to $5 million. The three-bedroom apartments were priced from $1.5 million to $3 million and the two-bedrooms started in the high $800,000s.
All the apartments were to have “penthouse finishes” such as natural limestone tiles, stone for the kitchen island and bathroom vanities, plus an “unexpected” cork finish on the kitchen cupboards.
They were to complement a 138-room boutique hotel (4.5 to 5 stars), members-only health and wellness spa and gymnasium, a selection of bars and restaurants and other hospitality offerings.
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Retail was earmarked from the Knox Avenue entrance, while level two on Bulcock Street would have dining and the hotel convention. At the Canberra Terrace access, there would be more dining and a cafe.
Construction was expected to start in August last year and take two-and-a-half years to complete. A sod is yet to be turned.
At the time of the launch, Colliers director Daniel Hirst said Paloma Paloma would “take Caloundra to the next level of sophistication and design” with its type of housing and dining experiences, without seeking to change the town’s unpretentious, relaxed vibe.
But the project seemed to polarise the community from the start when the then unnamed developer coated the entire site on Caloundra’s main street in bright orange as a marketing tactic in late 2021.
This raised eyebrows, stopped people in their tracks and sparked conversation and debate.
The Sunshine Coast Council spokesperson said the paint colour of the existing buildings on site was not regulated by the council and the timing for the demolition of any buildings on site and any subsequent redevelopment was a matter for the property owner.
A suite of billboards for the project also went up in Melbourne early last year, taking a cheeky poke at Noosa.
The Paloma Paloma ads in Tullamarine, Footscray and Armadale – declaring ‘Not Noosa’ – were designed to attract Melburnians to the laid-back southern end of the Coast, instead of their traditional holiday and migration destination to our northern town.
Sunshine Coast News in no way implies any problems with CURA’s financial position.
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