Sunshine Coast Commercial Development in 2025: Olympic Momentum and Urban Growth Converge

The Sunshine Coast is rapidly evolving as a key player in Queensland’s 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games delivery. No longer just a satellite to Brisbane’s growth, the region is now undergoing its own infrastructure surge, mixed-use precinct planning, and targeted investment activity tied directly to Olympic hosting responsibilities. In 2025, momentum is building fast, with major development already underway across Kawana, Maroochydore, and surrounding areas.

More than just a venue location, the Sunshine Coast is positioning itself as a long-term economic and lifestyle hub. The Olympics are acting as a catalyst — but the outcomes are reaching far beyond 2032.

Sunshine Coast’s role in the Olympics: more than a side event

The Sunshine Coast is officially slated to host several Olympic events, including preliminary football, basketball, and mountain biking. However, the broader impact is about more than sport. The Games are accelerating state and federal funding commitments, boosting tourism infrastructure, triggering land releases, and encouraging large-scale commercial and mixed-use projects to move forward at speed.

Key confirmed roles for the region:

• Preliminaries for men’s and women’s football

• Basketball games hosted at a new indoor stadium in Kawana

• Mountain biking events staged in Parklands Conservation Area

• Hosting of 1,400+ athletes and officials in an Olympic Village within Maroochydore CBD

While these events represent a small portion of the Games, the legacy infrastructure being delivered to support them is substantial.

Infrastructure projects accelerating growth

In 2025, multiple Olympic-aligned infrastructure projects are underway or locked in, creating major upside for nearby commercial zones.

Key developments include:

• Sunshine Coast Stadium Expansion

  • $148M redevelopment to increase seating capacity to over 10,000 permanent seats

  • Multi-sport design with event-scale flexibility

  • Adjacent land flagged for future mixed-use and hospitality activation

• Kawana Indoor Sports Centre

  • $142M new-build facility with seating for up to 7,000 spectators

  • Will host Olympic basketball and serve as a legacy indoor venue post-Games

  • Expected to create ripple demand for accommodation, commercial food outlets, and logistics businesses nearby

• Sunshine Coast Mountain Bike Centre

  • $14M investment into Parklands trails, infrastructure, and spectator access

  • Long-term tourism driver tied to outdoor recreation and eco-adventure sector

  • Car parking, trails, signage, and event services to be delivered by 2026

• Transport improvements across region

  • New Wave bus rapid transit service connecting Maroochydore, Kawana, the airport, and the rail corridor

  • Ongoing planning for CAMCOS rail link between Beerwah and Maroochydore

  • Active transport corridors being embedded into city centre masterplans

These projects are unlocking land, increasing connectivity, and creating clear demand signals for commercial property and mixed-use investment.

Maroochydore CBD: from city centre to Olympic precinct

The single biggest transformation is happening in the Maroochydore City Centre — a 53-hectare greenfield CBD development that’s become the focal point of Olympic planning.

Key activity in 2025:

• Athletes’ Village within Maroochydore City Centre

  • Designed to accommodate 1,400 athletes and officials

  • Will convert post-Games into high-density residential and hotel space

  • Triggering adjacent demand for retail, medical, and strata office sites

• Horizon Centre proposal by Walker Corporation

  • $1B proposal featuring a 7,000-seat indoor arena, five-star hotel, retail precinct, and civic plaza

  • Aims to position Maroochydore as a permanent major events destination

  • Creates opportunities for investors to support satellite developments: car parks, function venues, hospitality

• Smart city integration

  • Digital infrastructure, low-carbon utilities, and environmental integration embedded into the city’s design

  • Commercial buildings being marketed with future-proofing as a key value add

Maroochydore is fast becoming a focal point for institutional investment — offering the Sunshine Coast’s only master-planned, infrastructure-ready CBD location.

Investment opportunities across the region

As Olympic funding and infrastructure expands, so too does the scale of commercial opportunity.

Key investment hotspots:

• Kawana

  • Anchored by the new indoor stadium

  • Nearby hospital precinct adds further density and demand

  • Ideal for strata commercial, food retail, service trade, and business parks

• Maroochydore City Centre

  • Highest-value land in the region

  • Opportunities in strata office, build-to-rent, hospitality, and lifestyle retail

  • Long-term lease potential from government and corporate tenants post-Olympics

• Birtinya and Bokarina

  • Proximity to stadium and surf-focused tourism infrastructure

  • New accommodation offerings already in planning stage

  • Undersupplied areas for boutique hospitality and recreational retail

• Mountain biking precinct surrounds

  • Suited to small-format commercial, event infrastructure, and eco-accommodation

  • Growth expected in year-round recreation tourism

With limited commercial supply and strong population growth, Sunshine Coast commercial yields remain strong — especially for investors able to pre-commit ahead of final infrastructure rollouts.

Commercial outcomes expected from Olympic planning

For developers, property owners, and investors, the Olympics represent a marketing edge — but also a structural uplift in demand for logistics, event services, tourism, and recreation-focused commercial space.

Expectations in 2025 and beyond:

• Increased land value around stadium, indoor sports, and village locations

• Growing demand for short-term leasing, activations, and hospitality pop-ups

• Local and state government support for rapid DA approvals in Olympic precincts

• Long-term tenant interest from health, education, sporting, and cultural institutions

• Early land acquisitions in outer Olympic catchments showing double-digit growth

This is not a short-term play. The Sunshine Coast is leveraging the Games to build permanent economic diversity and commercial depth.

How we help position Olympic-aligned developments

We work with developers, leasing agents, and property owners across the Sunshine Coast to ensure their projects are presented as aligned, investable, and ready.

Our services include:

• Full 3D visualisation of Olympic infrastructure and nearby property developments

• Ground-level and aerial renders of stadium-adjacent, city centre, and village assets

• Strata and leasing brochures that align with Olympic legacy messaging

• Branding and naming of new precincts, streets, and developments

• Interactive digital rollout tools for stakeholder and buyer engagement

Whether you’re creating a new precinct or marketing a single lot, we help you frame the opportunity as part of a larger, Olympic-ready region.

Let’s talk about your Sunshine Coast project

The Sunshine Coast is undergoing one of the most exciting commercial transformations in regional Australia — and the Olympics are only accelerating it. If you’re looking to market, visualise, or develop within the region’s key Olympic precincts, we can help bring your project to life.