Pandana resort, South Stradbroke Island - $200m, six years of approvals, and not one square metre of freehold

Piling work has started on a new marina at the northern end of South Stradbroke Island. It is the first stage of Pandana, a $200 million eco resort that has been six years in the planning.

Most of the coverage will run the renders and the $200 million. Almost none of it will tell you what the land underneath actually is, and that is the more interesting story. Pandana is not being built on freehold. It cannot be. South Stradbroke is a declared regulated island, and the entire resort sits on a State lease that can never be converted to freehold without the Governor in Council signing off first.

Hi everybody - George Sourris, Empire Legal. Here is what has been approved, what the tenure actually is, and what a project like this means if you own property nearby. Prefer to watch? Watch George explain the Pandana resort and its tenure.

TLDR

Pandana is a $200 million, six-year-in-the-making eco resort on State leasehold land at the northern end of South Stradbroke Island. Stage one is a $32 million marina, beach club, restaurant and pool due in 2027, with accommodation from 2029. There is no freehold, no community titles scheme and nothing for a private buyer to purchase.

What the Pandana resort is, and what has actually started

Work has begun, and it is the marina first.

According to the Gold Coast Bulletin, Pandana’s $32 million first stage comprises the marina, a beach club, a restaurant and an 80 metre horizon pool, due for completion in 2027. The accommodation is scheduled to open in 2029, ahead of the Brisbane 2032 Games. The total project is put at $200 million.

The detail that makes it unusual is how people will get there:

• The marina will take vessels up to 22 metres and replaces three derelict jetties
• Guests cross on 7.99 metre electric landing craft carrying up to 22 passengers
• Those craft are charged from a solar powered system at the mainland base
• The resort is designed to run completely off grid

The developer has worked with Jabree Ltd, the Gold Coast’s registered Aboriginal cultural heritage body, since 2020 on planning, approvals and the integration of Yugambeh heritage into the design, and the partnership extends to a maritime training and cultural heritage program for Indigenous youth.

What has been approved, and by whom

This is a long approvals chain and it is worth setting out, because the public record does not match the headlines. From the City of Gold Coast development register:

Three things stand out.

It was impact assessable and decided under delegated authority by the City of Gold Coast under the Planning Act 2016. Not a council chamber vote, not a State call-in, and there is no Priority Development Area over the site.

The approval spans two sites. That is what “port services” is doing in the description - one approval covering the island resort and the mainland marina and barge access at Steiglitz. A resort with no road access is an access project before it is a hospitality project.

The tidal works approvals in May 2026 are the trigger for work starting. If you read a “green light” headline back in April 2021, that was eighteen months before the actual decision.

The land - why a regulated island changes everything

Here is the part nobody else will cover.

The resort sits on State leasehold land. South Stradbroke Island is a declared regulated island under Schedule 5 of the Land Regulation 2020, continuing a declaration under the Land Act 1994. That designation drives the whole tenure position:

• A term lease for tourism purposes on a regulated island is a rolling term lease under section 164 of the Land Act 1994
• Under section 164C the Minister must grant an extension on application, once during each term
• Under section 164E the extension runs for the same length as the original term
• Under section 168(1A), conversion of that lease to freehold can only be offered if the Governor in Council has first approved the conditions

So the tenure is secure and renewable, and it is also permanently leasehold unless the highest level of government decides otherwise. That is the entire point of the regulated island regime, and it is why the island has stayed largely undeveloped while the mainland opposite has not.

One correction worth making, because it is circulating. Investor material for the project describes the tenure as a “perpetual rolling term lease”. Under the Land Act those are two different things. A perpetual lease and a term lease are distinct tenures, and a rolling term lease is a species of term lease - a finite term the Minister must extend by an equal term on application. It never becomes perpetual.

Can you buy into Pandana?

On the current public record, no - and the register is unusually clear about it.

The City of Gold Coast development record for this site contains no reconfiguration of a lot application at all. No subdivision, no community titles scheme, no leasehold subdivision. By contrast, the freehold estate further down the island shows exactly what a titling play looks like in that same register, with reconfiguration applications for community titles schemes and subdivision by lease.

What is being offered publicly is equity in the project, not property. That is a financial product and a completely different set of questions from the ones a conveyancer answers. If someone approaches you about it, the questions are about the disclosure document and the structure, not about title.

Buying anywhere near a major approved development? We check the development register, the zoning and the tenure as part of pre-contract due diligence, before you are committed. Talk to us.

What a project like this means if you own property nearby

A $200 million approval down the road is not automatically good news or bad news for a neighbouring owner, and the difference is usually in the detail rather than the headline.

• Access infrastructure is the real change. On an island with no road access, a new marina and barge service alters how everyone gets on and off, what trades charge to attend, and how emergency services respond. That matters more to a nearby owner than the resort itself.
• Approvals are public and they are searchable. Every application above is on the City of Gold Coast register. If you are buying near anything, look before you sign rather than after.
• An approval is not an obligation to anybody else. Nothing in a neighbouring development’s conditions requires it to connect, service or rescue a nearby scheme. That is worth remembering if a listing implies otherwise.
• Coastal hazard applies regardless. The site sits within a declared Coastal Management District and intersects mapped storm tide hazard areas. So does much of the island.

That last point is the one that bites, and the clearest example of it sits on the same island. Couran Cove, a few kilometres south, has been without mains power, water or sewerage since 2023, with an unresolved multi-million dollar debt and a body corporate structure that sits outside the usual Queensland regime. If you are looking at island property because a new resort has caught your eye, read that story first: what went wrong at Couran Cove and what buyers should check.

Frequently asked questions

What is the Pandana resort on South Stradbroke Island?

It is a $200 million off-grid eco resort at the northern end of South Stradbroke Island, six years in planning. Stage one is a $32 million marina, beach club, restaurant and 80 metre pool due for completion in 2027, with accommodation scheduled to open in 2029.

Has construction started on Pandana?

Yes. Piling work has begun on the marina, which is the first stage. The two prescribed tidal works approvals for the marina berths were granted on 12 May 2026, and the underlying material change of use was approved on 1 November 2022.

Can you buy an apartment or villa at Pandana?

Not on the current public record. Council’s development register for the site contains no reconfiguration of a lot application, no subdivision and no community titles scheme, and the land is State leasehold on a regulated island. What is publicly offered is equity in the project, which is a financial product rather than property.

Who owns the land the Pandana resort is built on?

The land is State land held under lease. South Stradbroke Island is a declared regulated island, so a tourism lease there is a rolling term lease under the Land Act 1994, which the Minister must extend on application for a term equal to the original.

Can leasehold land on South Stradbroke Island be converted to freehold?

Only if the Governor in Council first approves the conditions, under section 168(1A) of the Land Act 1994. That is a deliberate feature of the regulated island regime, not a formality.

Is Pandana connected to Couran Cove?

No. They are separate projects on separate land with separate ownership, a few kilometres apart on the same island. Nothing in Pandana’s approvals requires it to supply or assist Couran Cove.

Wrapping up

Pandana is a genuinely unusual project: a $200 million resort, a six year approvals chain, an off-grid electric access system, and not one square metre of freehold anywhere in it. The tenure is the story, and it is the part that will be missing from almost everything else you read about it.

If you are buying or selling property in Brisbane, the Gold Coast, or anywhere in Queensland, understanding how Queensland property law applies to your transaction is critical. Tenure, zoning and what is approved next door are all knowable before you sign, and all of them are cheaper to check then than to discover later.

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