Mid 1970s: purchase of land
Paradise Centre is built on land that were originally occupied by the Surfers Paradise Hotel, Paradise Shopping Court and the beachfront section between Hanlan Street and Cavill Avenue.
Australian property developer Eddie Kornhauser purchased the sites in 1975 and spent the rest of the decade designing the complex. [2]
The Surfers Paradise Hotel which opened in the 1920s was built Jim Cavill. It was located on the corner of Cavill Avenue and Surfers Paradise Boulevard.
The Paradise Shopping Court was a small shopping arcade that featured a 36-hole mini golf course and an open carpark that backed out onto the beer garden.
The beachfront section between Hanlan Street and Cavill Avenue was jointly owned by the Crown and Gold Coast City Council. Eddie Kornhauser purchased the lease from The Crown and Gold Coast City Council for 50 years to build the centre in return for building a new surf lifesaving club and pedestrian bridge across the esplanade. [3]
1980s opening
The first stage of the $58 million project opened in December 1980 on the former Paradise Court and beachfront site. It featured 65 specialty stores, a water wall and a glass lift. As part of the agreement a new surf live saving club and a pedestrian bridge linking the centre to the beach was built. Above the centre features two residential towers known as Ballah and Allunga which opened in December 1981. The centrepiece of the complex was Grundy's which opened on 14 March 1981. The Reg Grundy Leisure Organisation paid $5.5 million for a 22-year lease on two floors of the centre.
Since its opening Grundy's was pitched as “The greatest fun event the world has known since America’s Disneyland”. The iconic 17 metre high waterslides opened on 11 April 1981 and was featured in the music video for Australian Crawl's song Errol in 1981. Grundy's also featured a Go-Gator green roller coaster, dodgem cars, mini-golf, a carousel, shooting gallery and many rides and games. [4] [5] As well as its ride and games Grundy's also featured a 480-seater international food court known as “Olde Englishe Village” and featured cuisine from China, Germany and Britain and as well as Chuck E. Cheese (known as Charlie Cheese's Pizza Playhouse) which opened on 20 March 1981 and closed and relocated to Carindale in 1982. [6]
In 1983, the Surfers Paradise Hotel and neighbouring Sea Breeze Motel was demolished and the final stage of the project opened in 1985 and included a 406 room Ramada Hotel building, new Surfers Paradise Hotel, Surfers Paradise Beergarden, Safeway supermarket (rebranded to Woolworths in the 1990s) and many specialty stores. [7]
The Ramada Hotel was purchased for $47.5 million in 1986 by the Japanese tourism group, the Kokusai Motorcar Company. In December 1988 they also purchase Paradise Centre below for $170 million.
In 1987 the famous waterslides at Grundy's were closed and removed. In June 1993, the vice president of leisure and administration of Grundy's Organisation Robert Graham announced the closure of Grundy's which closed down in September 1993. [8] Timezone which took over the lease opened in 1993 and is the largest the Timezone in the world. [9]
The Birdwatchers Bar closed in March 1995 and was replaced by Hard Rock Cafe which opened on 22 March 1996. [10] [11] In 1997 the Surfers Paradise Tenpin Bowling Centre opened.
The Ramada Hotel was rebranded to Courtyard by Marriott in early 1999. [12]
Cavill Avenue 
