Sinclair Projects targets Southport CBD fringe with 52-apartment high-rise

Highgroves bathroom founder Linsday Sinclair looks set to be moving into a life of apartment devleopment.

Having last year filed plans for 51 apartments on Sunset Boulevarde in Surfers Paradise, Sinclair's investment vehicle, Sinclair Projects, is seeking to develop a similar-scale tower in Southport.

Sinclair paid $9 million for the 6,067 sqm vacant site across 28-40 Spendelove Avenue late last year. The site was carved off from the Southport Private Hospital in 2023.

The plans are for 52 apartments across a 15-storey building designed by Studio Workshop Architects. The slender tower will front Eugaree Street, and at just over 57 metres high, will be among the tallest at the eastern end of the street.

The architecture draws on a coastal-urban palette: curved glazing, feature brick cladding, fluted vertical screens, and subtropical hanging gardens spilling over the podium edges. North and south-facing balconies are positioned to capture views of the Gold Coast skyline and hinterland, while the western circulation core acts as a thermal buffer, keeping internal spaces cooler through summer.

The 52 apartments are split across two distinct bands. Levels three to six deliver 24 affordable housing units across a mix of one- and two-bedroom configurations, sized between 55 and 80 sqm internally. These are intentionally compact, with car parking unbundled to reduce construction costs and keep rents accessible to low-to-moderate income households. 

Levels seven to thirteen hold 28 market-rate apartments, all two-bedroom, running between 105 and 109 sqm with balconies up to 13 sqm. Residents on both bands get private balconies off the main living area, and everyone has access to a 265 sqm communal rooftop terrace with a BBQ and planting.

The site sits within walking distance of Australia Fair shopping centre, the G:link tram on Nerang Street, Ellis Family Park, Southport State School, and St Hilda's. The Southport Private Hospital remains immediately to the north.

This is the first of three towers Sinclair intends to build across the full site. The larger northern portion, fronting Spendelove Avenue, is earmarked for two further towers ranging between 41 and 71 metres. There will be 338 apartments in total across the site. The sequencing Sinclair has outlined suggests this tower is as much about establishing the pattern of development as it is about delivering housing on its own.