A $100 million student hostel planned for Southport has been labelled 'disgusting' and blocking the development would not hurt Korea's growing love affair with the Gold Coast, according to Gaven MP Alex Douglas.
An angry Dr. Douglas yesterday poured scorn over a suggestion last week by project consultant Alan Mayer of GMP Management that failure to approve the hostel would put at risk billions of offshore dollars flooding into the Coast property market.
The controversial 600-room project, being undertaken by Korean group QAC, is earmarked for a 3.2ha site near the Southport Centro shopping centre.
But it already has evoked strong opposition from locals, who have objected to its density and its impact on the community.
Dr. Douglas yesterday went a step further, describing the proposed hostel as a future "slum".
He said that similar hostels have dotted the landscape in Korea's capital Seoul for decades.
They were built for migrating rural workers, but many now were being bulldozed.
"Koreans hate them," said Dr. Douglas. "They are fire hazards and dangerous.
"This has to be the most disgusting building proposed (on the Gold Coast) in the last 25 years."
Dr. Douglas said the plan to house up to 300 students in each building was too high in density, suggesting between 80 and 100 would be more acceptable.
He also described s 'totally inflammatory' Mr. Mayer's comments that Koreans would avoid the Coast market if the QAC hostel was denied planning approval.
Korean developer City Plan Partners lent weight to his argument yesterday by affirming its long-term commitment to the Coast.
Meanwhile Dr. Douglas questioned the economics of the Southport hostel deal which would see QAC pay a nominal $1 a year rental fee to the state for the next 39 years.
He said the Korean company would be earning about $300,000 per week from the 1200-bed facility.
Dr. Douglas said that there were 'too many questions surrounding the development application and the approval process'.
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