Makris Group moves ahead on $500m Marina Mirage Precinct

14/11/2025

THE URBAN DEVELOPER

Makris Group has called last drinks for Marina Mirage, the shopping destination developed in the 1980s by disgraced property tycoon Christopher Skase.

The development group built by billionaire Con Makris is poised to start work on its $500 million Marina Mirage precinct pitched to be Australia’s answer to the Riviera. The developer has cemented an as-yet unnamed builder, closed the doors on the retail outlets and announced that the waterfront restaurants will cease trading at the end of January.

The Elenberg Fraser-designed redevelopment is expected to combine superyacht marina culture with mixed-use, midrise buildings under the plans approved in December 2023. It includes an eco-aligned village with 38 apartments, seven restaurants, eight atelier boutiques, 1000sq m flexible function space and a 2000sq m wellness precinct.

There will also be the 126-key Marina Mirage Gold Coast, a Luxury Collection Resort by Marriott International who signed on last year.

The project is expected to take four years to build and will add to a 78-berth superyacht marina at the site completed in late 2021 and able to accommodate vessels from 12 to 85 metres.

Makris Group chief executive Jason Makris said a lot of hard work had gone into getting the project to this stage and locking in a builder. “Rather than us going to market, we’ve kept the information quite close to ourselves intentionally,” Makris said, “We wanted to make sure that we had crossed off everything that needed to be done for this to have longevity.

“It has been difficult but since 2021, coming out of the pandemic, we’ve really found exactly what we want to do.”

Makris said they were taking what they had learned from their boulevard project further south to create a commercially viable precinct. “[With] The Oracle at Broadbeach, we’ve been able to reposition that asset strategically from where it was to a dominant F&B precinct on the Gold Coast,” Makris said.

He said it had handed the developer an education in the behaviour of the Gold Coast and how domestic and international travellers worked, “but it’s very important to target the local catchment”.

“They’re the ones that come during the weekdays,” Makris said. Makris said while it had not been an easy road to this point, they were confident in development on the Gold Coast and were looking to secure more sites in the city. “The economics are well supported by the demand the Gold Coast is seeing with tourism numbers—and the housing market is tight,” Makris said.

“It’s been quite difficult with how costs have been but we’ve seen a lot of that settle down now and there’s more certainty. “When you are selling apartments, or forming lifestyle precincts once you’re halfway through a development build, there is an outlook.

“Although it’s hard, there are opportunities here on the Gold Coast to make these projects stack up by the numbers.”

Source: The Urban Developer