Caravans To 4-star
Sydney Morning Herald
Thursday February 26, 2004
A $90 million resort is about to change quiet Ettalong.
NOT so very long ago, the Central Coast was graced by a string of sleepy little towns where holiday facilities usually consisted of a fish and chip shop, a milk bar, a place where you could buy some bait and a caravan park.
The sporting facilities were at the end of the jetty, from which you cast a fishing line into the water. The marina was a stretch of sand where the locals pulled their well-worn dinghies up above the water line.
Then people who wanted to live a little way out of Sydney, or couldn't afford to live in the city, started moving into those towns. The great seachange began.
The Central Coast, with a population of almost 300,000, is one of the fastest-growing regions in NSW and it attracts another 400,000 holiday-makers over the Christmas holidays.
So, naturally, in came the developers.
Multiplex is always in the heart of the action and it is building a $90 million resort, with serviced strata apartments and an entertainment club, at Ettalong Beach. The concept didn't immediately appeal to the locals, who resisted for some time.
No milk bars or hamburger joints here. The four-star Outrigger Ettalong Beach Resort - to be managed by international operator, Hawaii-based Outrigger Hotels and Resorts - will have restaurants, bars, gaming and sporting facilities, a health club and an entertainment lounge plus a business centre and conference facilities.
And don't forget the apartments. All 236 of them in an eight-storey building, arranged in a stepped form.
The idea is that you have your holidays there and then let Outrigger lease and manage it for you the rest of the time - they come fully furnished.
The resort was designed by Project Tourism International Architects, whose principal, Peter Israel, says: "The key aspect of the design is the relationship of the building to the beach and the spectacular views afforded by the site.
"The form of the building carefully steps back, reinforcing its place in the landscape by relating to the form of the hills that lie directly across the water.
"The U-shape plan enables as many apartments as possible to have water views - looking over Brisbane Water towards Lion Island and Palm Beach. Other apartments have attractive views of the township and the hinterland beyond.
"In the centre of the resort is a pool extending the beach to the resort."
Well, there you go. It's a tough life but someone has to live it.
Outrigger Ettalong Beach Resort
211 Memorial Avenue, Ettalong Beach
Due for completion mid- to late-2005
56 studios
$250,000-$275,000
One-bed
$285,000-$375,000
Two-bed
$350,000-$565,000
Two penthouses
$950,000-$1.95m
Inspection By appointment
Inquiries Multiplex Living 1300 889 979; Michael Sullivan 0411 590 993; Graham Beilby 0411 103 040
© 2004 Sydney Morning Herald