Thanks To The Gold Coast’s Movers And Shakers Old And New

WORDS: Oean Road Magazine PHOTOGRAPHY Supplied

There’s a smattering of the old and the new appearing in the latest special property edition of Ocean Road Magazine, but these movers and shakers have one thing in common – they are playing a significant role in reshaping the Gold Coast in a highly transformative stage in its history.

From the post-Covid boom, the city has enjoyed newfound popularity and unprecedented growth, which has seen thousands of people from interstate flocking to enjoy everything we knew the city had to offer, but maybe they didn’t…until now!

From the seasoned Roberto Badalotti, who has developed more than 3000 properties and some of the city’s most significant landmarks and has already embarked on his $3.1 billion Imperial Plaza at Southport, to Robert Steer, a newcomer who is creating projects with the classy, modern finesse the Gold Coast deserves.

Steer is guiding a boutique portfolio to the market, including his $51 million Côte apartments currently under construction at Palm Beach. Steer is also behind an incredibly innovative Palm Beach hotel development on the Centrelink site on the Gold Coast Highway.

Then there is John Kearney, a third-generation Gold Coast builder, and developer whose company, Greyburn, is taking up the slack and providing construction solutions as some builders crumble under the pressure of rising construction costs and inflation.

A developer in his own right, Kearney has built and sold over 600 residences for over $500 million and has enjoyed significant sales success in his latest project, Rhythm Kirra Hill, the first in his Immerse brand – a brand we will no doubt hear more about.

Then there are the project marketers, the ones who unlock the Gold Coast to an inquisitive downsizer or apartment buyer looking to join the party.

Pezet Matheson is a new brand, but don’t be fooled. Headed by Jayde Pezet and Todd Matheson, the company’s founders have a pedigree dating back to the successful sell-out of the famous Oracle building more than a decade ago, to selling the Star Residences at Broadbeach and a multitude of new projects on the Gold Coast. Some include S&S Projects’ trilogy of projects that have set new benchmarks on the southern Gold Coast at Rainbow Bay – Flow, Awaken, and Esprit.

Then there’s the relative newcomer, Matt George of Urban Activation, arriving like a tsunami in the city and selling out the trilogy of projects by Melbourne-based Hirsch and Faigen between Mermaid Beach and Kirra. This company has the ear of some of Australasia’s most prominent development companies and has sold billions of dollars worth of apartment stock throughout Australia.

And finally, but not least – Urbis – the national town planning firm that has made the Gold Coast its own and, in the process, has become the eminent town planning firm in the city. Assisting the development community in navigating with statutory authorities (city council and state government) as we grapple for development solutions while ensuring the Gold Coast retains the charm which attracted us in the first place.

Enjoy reading about these companies as it’s not the first, nor the last time, you’ll be reading about them as we enjoy a newfound maturity and positive trajectory that will transform the Gold Coast into the future.