The article originally appeared in Gold Coast Bulletin.
A church and industrial sheds will be demolished and transformed in a massive five-storey medical hub as part of a major development project.
Developers are seeking permission to build a $20 million mixed-use health and commercial hub at 6 Silvyn St, Redcliffe, directly behind the existing QScan building and not far from the Redcliffe Hospital.
The new complex will also have a frontage on Portwood St meaning the church, used by The Fringe Church, and several industrial sheds will be demolished.
It is proposed to include a food outlet on the ground floor, a spacious lobby and medical and office spaces on the top floors.
A basement level will provide 114 car parks.
The application was lodged with Moreton Bay Regional Council by Urbis, on behalf of owners RAM Silvyn St Redcliffe Property Nominees Pty Ltd, earlier this month.
Sales data shows the site was purchased by Real Asset Management (RAM) Group last year for $8.3 million.
RAM medical portfolio asset manager Sam Wood said it was the site’s proximity to the Redcliffe Hospital and the existing QScan that attracted the group to the site.
Mr Wood said it had taken them seven months to research and finalise the detailed design of the proposed hub.
They have already started pre-leasing talks with potential tenants.
“On the bottom floor it is a great opportunity to leverage off the existing QScan with allied health and primary health services such as GPs, pharmacies and dentists,” Mr Wood said.
“Our second focus is for an occupier or multiple occupiers in the health care business to take up space in the other three floors.”
Mr Wood said these upper levels will have a separate access via Portwood St – meaning patients accessing a day surgery operator can enter through a private lobby.
“The Silvyn St access will have more convenience based operators with the QScan on the ground flood,” he said.
As a mixed-use development it will create a wide range of jobs for healthcare providers, administration workers, healthcare support staff and retail and hospitality jobs.
Developers propose the new hub will offer “an opportunity for small scale urban renewal to occur along the currently ageing frontage of Portwood St”.
Portwood St links with the Redcliffe Hospital and is often used by patients, visitors and staff not willing to pay to park on the hospital grounds.
It has a mix of homes, unit complexes and also offers access to the Redcliffe Showground, tennis centre and Encircle – all opposite the site of the proposed new hub.
The traffic report, submitted with the application, states if approved an extra 191 cars travel along Portwood St during peak periods on weekdays – it found this would not put extra strain on the road and no upgrades were needed.
The Pensioner’s Hall also on Portwood St is expected to be given a $3 million makeover by 2023 – turning the site into a new homeless support centre and home for The Breakfast Club of Redcliffe.
Moreton Bay Regional Council is yet to make a decision on the application.