New Trump tower to be Australia’s tallest building, ‘private’ beach club promised

A new Trump tower on the Gold Coast would be Australia’s tallest building, the organisation run by US President Donald Trump’s family has announced.

According to local developer Altus, the tower would rise 91 storeys and about 335 metres above Surfers Paradise. It would have a 285-room hotel, about 270 residences and retail and dining space.

A “private” beach club is also promised, in what would appear to follow a model floated by Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate.

“We are thrilled to bring this vision to the vibrant Gold Coast community,” Eric Trump, son of the president, said in a statement.

Australian developer Altus Property Group announced it would partner with the Trump organisation to build the tower – officially called Trump International Hotel & Tower, Gold Coast – saying a deal had been signed at Mar-a-Lago on Valentine’s Day.

On its website, the company confirmed the development will be built at 3 Trickett Street at a cost of just under $1.5 billion, with completion planned before the end of this decade. Apartment prices would start at about $5 million.

“It’s not every day that a building comes along that changes a landscape, an economy and a culture,” the company said.

The address had been home to the Iluka Resort, which was knocked down in 2013. A 285-metre tower with almost 700 units was approved for the site in 2015, but never built. No new development application had been lodged for the Trump project.

“If it was to go ahead, it would obviously be a great outcome for Surfers Paradise and the Gold Coast,” Tate’s office previously said of the Trump tower plans.

Q1, also on the Gold Coast, is presently the tallest building in Australia at 322.5 metres.

Trump’s grandmother and father founded the company in 1927 as E. Trump & Son. Trump joined it in 1968 and took over in 1971, renaming it The Trump Organisation soon after.

When elected as US president in 2016, he handed the company’s leadership to his children.

Alongside its real estate ventures, The Trump Organisation has been involved in cryptocurrency and produced goods including vodka, fragrances, Bibles, jewellery, chocolate and mobile phones.

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