How the $500m Marina Mirage build will reshape Gold Coast luxury

28/09/2026

The Australian

The husband-and-wife team driving the rebirth of the waterfront precinct share their vision for its next chapter.

The Marina Mirage on The Spit north of Surfers Paradise represented the Gold Coast’s ambitions for itself when it opened in 1988. Picture: Trevor King

I have fond memories of Marina Mirage on the Gold Coast, where I grew up. As teenagers, my girlfriends and I would pile into a car with our newly minted licences and drive to The Spit for Betty Blue coffees at Aromas, which really did feel like a little slice of Europe. We thought we were terribly chic.

When Marina Mirage opened in 1988, the Gold Coast was in the midst of an extraordinary period of growth. The city had long been a destination for holidays and sunshine, but a new generation of developers was beginning to imagine something more ambitious. Christopher Skase’s Sheraton Mirage at Main Beach, together with Marina Mirage across the road, was a big part of that transformation. The resort and the waterfront precinct borrowed liberally from international luxury: white architecture, marble, gardens (including a tropical aviary), restaurants, boutiques and, most importantly, the marina.

Marina Mirage offered glamorous people-watching, designer shopping, yachts and a glimpse of a Gold Coast that felt a world away from the theme parks and holiday towers further south. That was, of course, precisely the point. Marina Mirage was changing the way the Gold Coast saw itself.

It was so extra and so international, a particular vision of late-1980s glamour. The tenant mix included big names of luxury such as Louis Vuitton and Gucci, meaning it felt more like an elegant shopping arcade than a conventional Australian shopping centre. The boats in the marina were as much a part of the spectacle as the shops.

Almost four decades later, the site is being reimagined, after it was acquired by the Makris Group in 2013. The group founded by Con Makris in 1982 is now led at Marina Mirage by his son Jason, and Jason’s wife Natalie. I meet them freshly returned from their 10th wedding anniversary in Europe; they show me photographs of their Mykonos wedding and their three children. Family is clearly the through-line to everything they do.
Don’t miss your copy of the October issue of WISH magazine in The Australian available on Friday, October 2 Jason explains his father always had an affinity with the site, and that the family would visit Marina Mirage whenever they came to the Gold Coast.

“We have sat, lived and breathed this asset since we acquired it. As owners, we’ve also spent a lot of time making sure we really understand the status quo of the Gold Coast, its connection with Brisbane, and its domestic and international connections,” he says.

“We deliberately took that extra time, even through the pandemic,nd thought, ‘Well, this is the opportunity to really think about what this place could become’.”

The existing site closed in November 2025, and the Makris Group is now undertaking a $500 million redevelopment, which will be a combination of hotel, residential, retail and food. The scale is impressive, but so is the impetus: what does luxury on the Gold Coast look like now?

Natalie and Jason moved their family from South Australia to the Gold Coast 12 years ago and have a deep love for the city. “The Gold Coast has so much untapped potential,” says Jason. “It has the best weather, it has theme parks, it has some of the best beaches in the world, and it now has little pockets of CBD. The food, fresh produce and dining scene in Australia is phenomenal, even the wine. We have many chef-hatted restaurants and award-winning dining, but what we’re really lacking is the hospitality and serviceability that Europe offers. That’s why we went with The Luxury Collection at Marriott.”

The decision to partner with The Luxury Collection for the hotel at Marina Mirage is significant. And personal, too: their wedding was celebrated at Santa Marina in Mykonos, part of The Luxury Collection.

“We tested the brand, visiting The Tasman, because it was the only Luxury Collection property in this part of the world, and you simply couldn’t compare with the history and depth that The Luxury Collection brings. We travel to Luxury Collection hotels whenever we can, whether it’s just us or with our family, because we want to understand the guest experience and what makes each one unique. There’s a different experience from one property to the next, and we want to explore what they’re doing, find the points of difference, and ultimately discover what we can do in Australia that is uniquely of this region, while bringing world-class offerings, which will resonate with the people who come to stay.”

The new precinct will include a 124-room Luxury Collection hotel and 38 residences, as well as restaurants, boutiques, wellness facilities and event spaces, alongside the existing 78-berth superyacht marina. The idea is less shopping centre and more waterfront village, somewhere to live, stay, eat, swim, shop and spend an afternoon.

Natalie explains her curatorial approach. “There will also be six to eight retail spaces, and around seven food and beverage venues, including lobby bars and lounges. We really want the hotel lobby to be a place in its own right, somewhere people can come and have an Aperol and light snacks, meet friends, have a meeting or simply experience the atmosphere of the hotel. You don’t necessarily have to be staying there to enjoy it. That’s important to us because luxury should feel accessible; sometimes you just want to walk into a beautiful hotel, have a drink and feel part of the experience.”

The architecture is informed by a relatively restrained approach. The residences, designed by Fraser & Partners, are arranged in low-rise buildings around gardens and a 50-metre pool, with terraces and balconies connecting inside and out. The familiar sails of the original Marina Mirage are being reinterpreted rather than replicated, recognising their place in the collective memory of the Gold Coast. Jason and Natalie fought hard to retain them, understanding that they would be key to ensuring the community embraced the “new” Marina Mirage.

“The Spit is governed by a 15-metre and three-storey height restriction, and it’s not just a planning guideline, it’s a legislative prohibition. Anything that comes before council that exceeds those limits simply gets rejected; there’s no room for argument. So it was a real challenge to develop a scheme within those constraints, particularly from a feasibility perspective. We spent a lot of extra time working through those rules and, during the planning process, strategically advocating for the sails to be retained. We had to get council comfortable that we were essentially replacing what was already there. We worked hard to get the right people behind it and to demonstrate that the sails are significant to the Gold Coast,” he says.

“When the application was approved, the response from council was incredibly positive; people were genuinely delighted that we had been able to retain such an important landmark.”

The hotel and residence interiors, by Fiona Lynch Office, whose work the couple praise for its “modern Australian style”, take a similarly considered approach. Rather than reproducing the high-gloss glamour associated with the original site, the emphasis is on texture, natural materials, light and a sense of calm. It is luxury, but of a quieter sort.

The residences offer a lock-up-and-leave lifestyle for owners who may divide their time between the Gold Coast and elsewhere, with concierge services and hospitality offered through the hotel.

The marina is central to the experience, much more than an amenity, and marking something of a return to the glory days. With capacity for superyachts of up to 85 metres, the marina places Marina Mirage firmly within the international luxury market. The ambition, however, is not to recreate the Côte d’Azur on the Broadwater, but to embrace what people already love about the Gold Coast: the relationship between architecture and water, food and social life, landscape and leisure.

Perhaps that is the most interesting evolution of all: moving from an idea of luxury borrowed from elsewhere to one that feels distinctly, and confidently, its own.

Jason emphasises, “We’ve really leaned into Con’s work ethic. My father came to this country and has contributed so much to Australia, and his story is incredibly inspirational. I’ve been privileged to watch that unfold throughout my life, so to be in this position now is a wonderful legacy. His vision and his dream have inspired us to deliver something of this calibre. For us, it’s about creating something that makes him proud and leaves a lasting legacy for our family, but also delivering something to the Gold Coast that is innovative and inspirational. It’s not a copy of anything; it’s a reflection of our experiences, the places we’ve travelled, the people we’ve met and the different influences that have shaped us.”