Revised plans released for Cairns’ Aquis integrated resort

New plans have been revealed for the $4.2 billion Aquis Great Barrier Reef integrated resort at Yorkeys Knob north of Cairns.

With an Environmental Impact Statement for the development set to be released during April, the revised plans are for the resort to be developed in a series of many stages over 10 years from 2019.

The first stage of Aquis includes nine luxury hotels totalling 3,750 rooms, 1,200 apartments and 135 villas, 13,500 metre2 of high-end retail shopping, an international-class casino, an aquarium, two 2,500-seat theatres, a 13 hectare reef lagoon, a 65 hectare lake, an 18-hole golf course, a 25,000 seat sports stadium, a 45,000 metre2 convention and exhibition centre, 1,800 staff accommodation units and a cultural heritage centre.

Later stages will include more hotels, an expansion of the convention centre and the golf course.

The Fung family behind Aquis is hoping to use its $269 million acquisition of the Reef Hotel Casino in the Cairns CBD and its gaming licence to also cover the Northern Beaches site instead of applying for an integrated resort development licence.

Aquis Chairman Tony Fung has said if the project was given the green light, construction would start next year after the wet season for a Christmas 2019 opening.

Fung has flagged the possibility of some of the community facilities being shifted closer to the city after Aquis announced naming rights sponsorship of the FNQ Heat football team competing in the National Premier League Queensland.

In related news, the Queensland Government has released the names of 12 consortia that have officially submitted Expressions of Interest to develop up to three new Integrated Resorts across the State, one at Queen's Wharf in Brisbane’s CBD and up to two in regional centres of Queensland.

The parties that have submitted formal Expressions of Interest to develop new resorts with associated gaming licences are:

Queens Wharf Brisbane

1. Crown Resorts Ltd

2. Echo Entertainment Group Ltd

3. Far East Consortium/Chow Tai Fook Enterprises Ltd (joint venture)

4. Lend Lease

5. SKYCITY Entertainment Group Ltd

6. Greenland Investment Pty Ltd

Regional Queensland  

1. Aquis at the Great Barrier Reef Pty Ltd

2. China-Australia Entrepreneurs Consortium Pty Ltd - Airlie Beach

3. Fullshare International (Australia) Pty Ltd – for a site south of Proserpine

4. GKI Resort Pty Ltd - Great Keppel Island

5. Eastern Success Group Pty Ltd – Nerang, Gold Coast

6. ASF Consortium Pty Ltd - Broadwater, Gold Coast

Click here for information on the Queensland Government’s Integrated Resort Development process.

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