From Singapore: A Queensland developer is betting nearly $1.5 billion on the global pulling power of a single brand name, announcing plans to build Australia's first Trump Tower on the Gold Coast in a project that, if approved, would reshape the country's skyline and its luxury property market in one stroke.
Altus Property Group chief executive David Young confirmed on Monday that his company had signed a licensing agreement with the Trump Organisation to construct a 91-storey, six-star hotel and residential tower at 3 Trickett Street in Surfers Paradise. Standing 340 metres tall, the proposed development would clear Melbourne's current record-holder, Australia 108, by 15 metres.
The tower's programme includes 285 hotel rooms, 272 residential apartments, and retail and dining space. Apartments are expected to be priced from around $5 million, positioning the project firmly at the top end of Queensland's already buoyant luxury property segment. Young said the deal was signed on 14 February, nearly two decades after he first made contact with Ivanka Trump about bringing the brand to Australia.
"All of my employees at Altus Property Group are excited about building this iconic six-star resort in the sky and are proud of what it means for Queensland tourism and the Australian economy," Young said in a statement. He added that the project would employ at least 500 workers during construction and a further 500 once operational.
Young framed the financing model as an opportunity to connect Australian entrepreneurs with global private capital networks. The tower's design, he said, would follow the same Trump design manual currently applied to properties under construction in Saudi Arabia and planned for the UAE, situating the Gold Coast project within a portfolio of 139 Trump-branded resorts and towers worldwide.
For Australian property analysts and tourism economists, the announcement carries genuine weight. The Gold Coast has long competed with destinations across Southeast Asia for high-net-worth visitors, and a globally recognised luxury brand could sharpen that pitch. The trade implications for Australia are direct: a project of this scale draws on domestic supply chains in construction, fit-out, and hospitality, while a branded international hotel flag typically lifts average daily room rates across surrounding properties.
There are, however, legitimate reasons for measured scepticism. The Trump brand carries significant political baggage in many of Australia's key inbound tourism markets, particularly in Asia, Europe, and among younger domestic travellers. Critics from the property and tourism sectors have pointed out that brand-licensing deals of this kind do not always translate into completed buildings, and the history of Trump-branded projects internationally includes several high-profile collapses and cancellations. Consumer advocates and some local residents have also questioned whether a tower of this scale is compatible with Surfers Paradise's existing planning framework and community character.
The Gold Coast City Council has confirmed it has not yet received a formal development application. Acting mayor Mark Hammell welcomed the signal of investor confidence in the city, noting that any proposal would need to go through the standard approvals process.
"A formal development application will be required, and we look forward to considering the application once it is received," Hammell said.
That process, under Queensland's planning legislation, involves public notification, community consultation, and assessment against local planning schemes. For a structure of this proposed height and density, the path from announcement to approval is rarely straightforward.
The project sits at a genuine intersection of competing interests. Fiscally, a $1.5 billion private investment requiring no public subsidy is exactly the kind of development governments at all levels should welcome. Job creation, tourism revenue, and supply chain activity are real benefits. At the same time, planning integrity matters: height limits and development controls exist for reasons that go beyond individual projects, and community input into decisions of this scale is a democratic norm worth preserving.
Whether the Trump Tower Gold Coast gets built will ultimately depend less on the brand's global profile than on what Altus Property Group submits to council, and how that submission holds up against the evidence of planning merit. That is how it should be, according to 7News, which first reported the announcement.