Sherpa Property Group wins approval for $350m Coolangatta tower with first-homebuyer set-asides

HouGarden Australia, 23 September — The approved project, designed by HAL Architects, will rise 26 levels on a 2,029 square metre site at the corner of Griffith and Warner Streets in Coolangatta, Queensland, delivering 194 apartments across a mixed-use building. It is not connected to the New Zealand property market.

Of the 194 apartments, 41 have been reserved exclusively for first homebuyers under Sherpa's proprietary Flourish model. The model works by setting aside a fixed proportion of units in each project at accessible price points, making them available to first homebuyers before the remaining stock is released to the broader market.

Sherpa founder Christie Leet said the company identified near-beachfront sites in the area as offering better value relative to absolute waterfront addresses. "We realised some time ago that sites very close to the beach were substantially undervalued when compared to the beachfront, and this has allowed us to create premium apartments for prices that are attainable in the current market," Leet said.

Construction is set to begin in January in partnership with builder LPS Group, with the project expected to reach completion in late 2029.

The Flourish model has already demonstrated strong take-up at Sherpa's Flourish Soleira project at Palm Beach on the Gold Coast — not to be confused with Palm Beach in Sydney. Leet said 27 first-homebuyer apartments at that development sold out in just over a week, with 25 of the 27 sales going to local buyers.

"We have an extraordinary database of buyers who missed out and moving forward we are committed to trying to create an environment where first home buyers can get onto the property ladder," Leet said.

Sherpa acquired the Coolangatta site for $27 million in 2025. The company has also acquired two Palm Beach (Gold Coast) sites over the past year for a combined $30.5 million, representing approximately $42 million in site acquisitions in that suburb alone during that period.

Earlier this year, Sherpa also secured a second site in Brisbane, extending the Flourish model beyond the Gold Coast for the first time.

In June, Gold Coast City Council granted approval for the second tower in Sherpa's $500 million Flourish mixed-use precinct in Palm Beach on the Gold Coast, which will deliver 286 apartments alongside retail and dining space across two towers fronting the Gold Coast Highway.

Sherpa has now delivered 16 residential projects and holds more than $800 million in active development on the Gold Coast alone. Its total development pipeline across the Gold Coast and Brisbane now stands at $1.7 billion.