Property magnate Makris’ Gold Coast marina project hits market

Alongside the hotel, 38 penthouses, villas and apartments will be released in stages, with prices starting at $6.5 million for a 250-square-metre residence.

To be called Marina Mirage Gold Coast, a Luxury Collection resort, the property will also include restaurants, function and event spaces, a rooftop bar and pool, and day spa.

The project will be the first foray into hotel and residential development for the Makris family, whose core business has been shopping centres.

The sales launch marks a significant step forward for the development plans, which have been in the works since Con Makris bought the Christopher Skase-developed site in 2013 through a receiver’s sale.

Con Makris said that as the Gold Coast was evolving as a lifestyle and tourism destination, so too was the Marina Mirage.

“Marina Mirage brings the luxury, elegance and lifestyle of the world’s great rivieras, realising our vision to create a precinct of global calibre that is uniquely Australian,” he said.

His son Jason Makris, chief executive of the family firm, is leading the project in alongside his wife Natalie, the group’s general manager.

The group is eyeing a mid-2029 deadline for the project, to ensure the waterfront resort is complete ahead of the 2032 Brisbane Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Built in the late 1980s, Marina Mirage was once a thriving, high-end shopping and dining precinct on the Southport Spit, located alongside the Sheraton Mirage and the Imperial Palace hotel, formerly the Palazzo Versace.

Demolition of the two-storey shopping mall is expected to begin in the coming months.

Jason Makris said releasing the residences in stages was an intentional strategy to ensure the price reflected the market as it evolved.

“So if there’s any changes or adjustments in the market at the time, if there’s any escalations in the market for costs, we’ll be able to mitigate that with those tranches of releases, so we’re not having to go back to the buyers later and saying, ‘We’ve got problems.’ We’ve learned all that through our other developments,” Makris said.

While he would not disclose the expected sale price for the most premium, 1000-square-metre penthouses, of which there are four, Makris said market testing had hinted it would a “very, very large number”.

The 1980s shopping centre will be demolished to make way for the three-level luxury resort. 

Sales at the nearby Mantaray project, overseen by pub baron Bruce Mathieson, give some indication of the buyer appetite in the area. In early 2024, two sub-penthouses at Mantaray sold for $17.5 million apiece.

Jason Makris said interstate and local buyers were showing interest in the residences, which offered a “rare, intergenerational holding on the Gold Coast”.

There is also expected to be strong interest from existing owners of the 76-berth super yacht marina, which the Makris family redeveloped in 2021.

The apartments and villas have been designed by architects Fraser and Partners, with Fiona Lynch Office leading the interiors and Aspect Studios behind the landscaping.

In contrast to the Gold Coast’s towering skyline, the Marina Mirage resort will rise three storeys, with a collection of seven buildings centred on a central garden and 50-metre pool. Marina Mirage’s iconic sails that sit atop the shopping centre will be recreated in the new development.

The residences will feature large terraces, and give owners direct access to dining and marina amenities, and integrated hotel-style services.