PLANS FILED FOR AUSTRALIA'S FIRST ENTERTAINMENT CITY

The Infinity Planet development from RHC City is being billed as “a globally significant, integrated tourism and entertainment city that combines major tourist attractions, short-term accommodation, leisure, recreation and innovation-led business activity within a single cohesive environment”.

“The vision for Infinity Planet is to create a dynamic, sustainable, and future-ready tourism city that captures the imagination of visitors of all ages, offering cultural experiences for every member of the family while generating enduring employment and defining the next evolution of tourism, entertainment, and innovation for Queensland,” a planning report said.

Under the proposal lodged with Moreton Bay Regional Council, it would cover a 68-hectare site currently occupied by strawberry and macadamia farmland at Elimbah, about 60km north of the Brisbane CBD.

The development is structured around two key precincts, which will operate as a single destination while allowing for a staged delivery. Overall, the masterplan includes indoor and outdoor theme park attractions, 50 cultural pavilions providing a “permanent world expo”, a centrepiece 9000-seat “city hall”venue for large-scale events, conventions and performances, an internationally themed retail and dining precinct, and a “globally connected” business and technology park.

The Tourism and Entertainment Precinct will feature themed experiences, performance spaces, and family-oriented leisure activities, theatre and function facilities hosting conferences, cultural events, and entertainment, resort-style accommodation, and eco-lodges for curated glamping and experiential stays.

The Business and Innovation Precinct will house office and research facilities supporting creative industries and AI technology, as well as technology industry partnerships.

Three towers would provide more than 700 hotel rooms, ranging from three-star to five-star accommodation plus about 50 “premium glamping suites combining resort-style amenities with an eco-tourism experience”.

The site would be enhanced through landscaped plazas, a South Bank-style water park and pedestrian promenades, the report states. It will be a car-free zone, with vehicles restricted to external parking areas and visitors encouraged to come and go by train, via Elimbah railway station. 

Ramin Ahmadi, founder of RHC City, said Infinity Planet would “reshape the regional economy and deliver a transformative economic and social legacy”.

“Infinity Planet will be so much more than a revolutionary tourism and leisure destination. It will truly change lives by fostering a shared understanding of our human heritage, celebrating those things that make our cultures unique, and highlighting the very best of human endeavours and achievements."

“This combination of entertainment, education and celebration of culture is a concept that has been successful in many locations across the world, particularly in the Middle East, but this is the first time it will have been delivered in Australia.”

According to the report, the theme park components are projected to attract between 1 million and 1.2 million visitors annually, while the experiential retail precinct is expected to draw about 1.8 million visitors a year.

If approved, it would be delivered across four stages with early stages slated to be completed and operational before the Brisbane 2032 Olympics. Stages One and Two would include the delivery of “catalytic tourism infrastructure” including the theme park, cultural malls, glamping precinct and some of the planned 10,000 carparking spaces. The subsequent Stages Three and Four would deliver the hotel towers, business and innovation precinct, and supporting residential accommodation.