Clive Palmer goes up another gear with revived bid to open huge car museum

Mining tycoon Clive Palmer is driving forward with plans for an updated car museum at his Sunshine Coast golf course resort.

The billionaire’s original proposal to open a mega car exhibition at Palmer Coolum Resort at Yaroomba has been renewed, with updated designs and details.

Mr Palmer is the director of Coeur De Lion Investments Pty, which submitted a revived development application for material change of use, for an expansion to an integrated tourist facility (car museum) at the resort, on March 7.

A revamped application was also submitted for a material change of use to establish a multi-level car park.

The initiatives are the latest in Mr Palmer’s bid to reinvigorate the resort.

He revealed a $100m strategy to refurbish it, complete with Wonders of the World, in early 2021.

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The proposed museum.

The Palmer Auto Museum proposal includes a vintage car museum containing 879 car display bays, 363 motorcycle display bays, lobby, a special display zone and an upper-level terrace.

The application, submitted by Adams and Sparks Town Planning, says “the museum will collect, research, preserve, and display some of the rarest working vintage cars from around the world”.

“The proposed car museum represents an exciting new tourist attraction that will be unique for the Sunshine Coast and will attract up to 189,873 visitors annually,” it says.

The planned venue has a floor area of 32,019sqm and a maximum height of about 22m, set back from the resort boundaries and surrounded by vegetation.

The car park proposal is for the redevelopment of an existing car park into a two-storey, three-level car parking facility consisting of 516 car parking spaces and 42 motorcycle parking spaces.

It would have a maximum height of 8.5m and would be a general use car park for the resort, golf course and planned car museum.

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An artist’s impression of the car park.

It’s believed the original applications for the car museum and car park last year were insufficient, including a lack of paperwork for planning and engineering.

Mr Palmer took over the Hyatt Regency Coolum resort in 2011, renamed it and introduced some unusual features, including a giant replica T-Rex and a tribute to John F. Kennedy.

The golf course lost the hosting rights to the Australian PGA Championships and the resort appeared to suffer degradation.

But it has undergone somewhat of a revival in recent years, with ongoing refurbishment.

Sunshine Coast News contacted Palmer Coolum Resort for comment on the development applications but was yet to hear from them.

Article source: Queensland Property Investor