‘Squatters’ paradise’: Qld beachfront overrun

A Gold Coast beachfront apartment block, slated to become multi-million dollar high-rise apartments, has been labelled a ‘disgusting eyesore’ by locals after being overrun by squatters.

The old Seabreeze Apartments in Surfers Paradise – an area which boasts sweeping ocean views – has become a “squatters paradise” after development plans were delayed.

“It’s an eyesore considering it’s a high touristy area,” one local told A Current Affair.

“It makes me sad actually that such a beautiful building can go to wreck like that,” said another.

Luxcon Group is developing the site into $250 million five-star apartment building ‘Escape’, after plans were approved by Gold Coast City Council in 2022.

Construction on the luxury apartments was supposed to start early this year, but the group said demolition was deferred as “we were working through satisfying construction finance requirements”.

Now, despite attempts to secure the site a number of times, the graffitied apartments have been taken over by squatters, who are enjoying the waterfront views for free.

One resident who lives in a neighbouring apartment building, Jamie, told the program police have been called a number of times to the building, where fires have broken out and people are often heard partying.

“Last few months have been, yeah, a nightmare. Definitely a nightmare. Just constant every night, I can’t sleep because it’s loud. Constantly smashing windows, people going in there partying,” he said.

Jamie said he no longer feels safe living near the building and has broken his lease so he can move.

“We are leaving soon, we do not want to live here.”

Luxcon Group said residents “have a right to be upset” and apologised for the situation that has unfolded.

“It is an unfortunate sign of the times that local homeless people have had to resort to using vacant buildings across the Gold Coast to provide them with shelter,” they told the program.

“We have taken what action we could to protect the property and we had planned to lease out the apartments when the project was delayed but so much damage had already occurred, this made this impossible to do to ensure the safety of the future tenants.”

It said it initially boarded up the exterior of the building and secured internal doors and windows, after learning people had been trespassing on the site.

“We have had our contractor re-attend to attempt to secure the site a number of times, we were informed that the pool fence had been damaged which presented a serious risk and we had the fence secured the following day. Sadly these people continued to return and break into the site with power tools, sometimes within just hours of being removed by police or scared off by our contractors. We cut the power to the site to attempt to stop this.”

The group said Escape is a “two-and-a-half-year program from demolition”.

News.com.au has contacted the group for further comment.

Queensland police said they have responded to calls from neighbours regarding people unlawfully entering the building or building site several times this year.

“In most instances, responding police locate people trespassing to cause graffiti or damage, or rough sleepers using the building to sleep in,” a Queensland police spokesperson told news.com.au in a statement.

“Police also proactively patrol the building with our homeless and rough sleeper partners to locate, engage, and refer them to appropriate housing and health services to assist them in addressing their complex health and social issues.”

Police said the security of the apartment block is the responsibility of the owner.

“Gold Coast police have been engaging with building owners and the Gold Coast City Council to discuss further security measures while the site progresses through the development process.”

Gold Coast City Council said it has received complaints relating to the property, noting the owner is responsible for the security of the site.

“City officers are working with the relevant parties, with the intention of expediting the demolition of the building.”