Frank Developments Joins Gold Coast Surf Park Megaproject

For a young surfer-developer, the potential perks don’t get much sweeter.

Tasked with delivering the residential towers for the Gold Coast’s first surf park, Frank Licastro—founder of Brisbane-based Frank Development—has clearly contemplated a few.

Chief among them is the tantalising possibility of snagging a few line-up pointers from three-time world surfing champion Mick Fanning, a project partner and ambassador for the $500-million-plus Palm Valley development.

But Licastro is keeping his barrel-riding ambitions firmly grounded in reality.

“Well, yeah, that’s an added bonus,” he says with a wry smile before quickly acknowledging the mix of terror and novelty at the thought of rubbing shoulders with surfing royalty in the project’s centrepiece lagoon.

“I mean, I definitely won’t be surfing at the same time he does.”

Levity and line-up logistics aside, Licastro is staring down a much more monumental wave currently forming on the horizon after inking the strategic alliance to helm the vertical living offering alongside Palm Valley’s much-anticipated leisure and hospitality infrastructure.

Palm Valley golf pro-turned-property developer Luke Altschwager took the covers off the joint venture with Frank Developments at Urbanity-26, the flagship annual conference of The Urban Developer held on the Gold Coast.

By coincidence, Licastro’s Della Rosa project at Brisbane’s New Farm took out the Development of the Year—Small-Scale Residential (11-20+) category at The Urban Developer Awards for Industry Excellence held in conjunction with the event.

“We’re really pumped to have Frank on board,” Altschwager says.

“He’s a dynamic young developer. If you look at his development track record, his capability at a technical level and the capital he brings, it’s pretty significant."

"What we love more about Frank is just his eye for detail… whether it’s on the financial side or product-led development. It’s the little stuff to me that makes the difference.

"But he’s also believed in the project from the start.”

Licastro was introduced to the project through a friend whose father was an existing commercial partner and, as a result, he invested in the operating side of the business well before there was any talk of a joint venture.

“He’s been trying to add value to our project before he was involved… that was meaningful for us. There’s a bit of an intent there with a project like this. It is about doing something special.”

Several years in the planning—including three years of reworking and refining the build strategy since gaining approval in December of 2023—the Palm Valley surf park and golf resort project is finally on the cusp of moving from concept to contract and construction reality.

The first stage includes the 240m-long surf lagoon with its German-developed Endless Wave surf technology and surrounding retail/hospitality precinct.

It will be followed by a lowrise luxury villa and the vertical residential component. Under the partnership, Frank Developments has been mandated as development manager for two midrise towers currently approved to rise eight storeys, with room to push higher—that is, 10 or 12 storeys—subject to planning negotiations.

From Licastro’s perspective, the decision to come on board was part lifestyle, part conviction play.

“A lot of things drew me to it,” he says. “Like, I feel the surf park—it’s going to set a new benchmark for Queensland.

“I love surfing. I love the lifestyle behind it. And I guess probably the thing that interested me is—my dad loves golf and surfing as well—so to be able to wake up and have perfect surf would be a dream.

“But the more I came to understand the project, and once I finally got to meet who was behind the project, that’s when it all made sense to me… it’s not just a project; it’s the people, it’s something different and that’s what’s really interesting for me.

“And the fun part starts now—working with the team and looking at the design and really getting that product mix and masterplan set for the resi side of it all.”

Artschwager says the partnership is all about bringing a “real developer” into the tent.

“We’ve got a great masterplan but absolute execution and placemaking comes with real developers, and that’s what we feel Frank brings to our team.”

Speaking as part of the Urbanity-26 panel session From Tourism to Lifestyle: The Reshaping of the Gold Coast, Altschwager said the city—once defined by tourism and retirees—was now recalibrating around health, wellness, employment and transport-enabled urban precincts.

“What makes the Gold Coast special is the outdoor and the urban lifestyle, and I think building the big infrastructure and the CBDs are critical, but also not throwing the baby out with the bathwater—making sure that that early morning lifestyle, that ability to get out, put your shoes on, go for a run in nature… I think the city can lean into that,” he said.

All the panelists agreed, repeatedly returning to the Gold Coast’s competitive edge: an outdoor, wellness-driven urbanism that must survive growth pressures.

Globally, according to Altschwager, the city is on the right side of shifting tourism and residential demand.

“When you look at the tourism market globally, I think tourism and lifestyle are actually becoming much closer,” he said.

“Tourism used to be about ‘go away, go to a theme park, go to a pool bar and drink until you need to go to sleep and do it again tomorrow’. And I think lifestyle and wellness and tourism are becoming much more intrinsically linked.”

Surf’s up!

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