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JUNIPER BOSS SAYS T-SHIRT SHOPS WILL GO

The days of cheap T-shirts and tacky souvenir shops are coning to an end as Surfers Paradise moves upmarket.luxury developers have promised to upgrade the tired precinct as work on the $850 million Soul development is about to begin in earnest.

Juniper Group sales and marketing manager David Kortlang yesterday outlined a Surfers future in which T-shirt and souvenir shops would make way for the likes of Tiffany and Co.

"Surfers is the soul of the Gold Coast," he said. "It has gone through problems and redevelopments, but all that is changing. "There will be no more T-shirt shops and it will evolve."

A hole in the ground marks the Soul development on the old Raptis Plaza site off Cavill Avenue. Mr Kortlang said the arrival of a 52m tower crane signified the start of the real work to create a 77-floor retail and residential complex fronting both The Esplanade and Cavill Mall. When it is completed in mid- 2011, the building will include 288 luxury apartments topped by one of the Australia's most expensive penthouses, which has been sold for $16.85 million.

The development will include a plaza of shops and eateries fronting a new stretch of esplanade that Mr Kortlang said would be a 'peoplefriendly zone'. The 1980s landscaping would be replaced by street designs of the future, he said. Mr Kortlang said people would be able to enjoy a coffee or a meal while watching the waves. "It will be a great place for a coffee on a Sunday," he said. "You can't do that now."

Soul joins Chevron Renaissance by Kathleen Donaghey and Circle on Cavill which set the ball rolling for Surfers. It will be followed by the arrival of the Hilton brand. Urban Development Institute of Australia Gold Coast branch president Col Dutton said the development would close a chapter in the story of Surfers Paradise. "The T-shirt times are well and truly behind us," he said. "And these developments are really leading the charge."

Mr Dutton said Surfers Paradise was pioneering `high class' development on the Coast and a new class of investment. Mr Kortlang said Cavill Avenue's story began in the 1920s with the Paradise Hotel when life was all about beer gardens. In the 1980s, Charlie's arrived and nightclubbers could order cheese fingers until dawn. Today, Cavill Avenue is moving with the times and catering to the modern taste of luxury retail.

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