QIC Real Estate opened a 6,842-square-metre Racquet Club venue at Robina Town Centre on the Gold Coast in September 2026, adding 13 courts to the shopping complex.
Built outdoors, the project features seven padel courts, six pickleball courts, athlete recovery facilities and a clubhouse food and beverage venue.
Landlords pivot to social sports
The project gives major retail space to racquet sports over traditional specialty stores or standard entertainment anchors. Sally Harding, head of alternative income at QIC, noted the shift in asset management: “Some of the most exciting opportunities in our portfolio come from looking at land in new ways; not just where the next store goes but how we create places that get people active and connected.”
Retail landlords across Asia-Pacific face structural shifts in department store footprints and apparel tenancies. Turning outdoor land and rooftops into sports hubs drives footfall during weekday evenings and weekend mornings. Conventional mall traffic softens during those periods. The risk lies in operational intensity: leisure operators need steady community engagement to justify square footage that produces lower base rent per square metre than luxury or specialty retail tenancies.
Alternative income and regional footprint
Founded in Sydney in 2023, Racquet Club previously built permanent facilities in Sydney and Canberra alongside temporary pop-ups. The Gold Coast venue serves as the company’s third permanent Australian location and its second-largest site to date.
Robina Town Centre celebrated its 30th anniversary in April 2026. That milestone followed a 2024 institutional marketing partnership between QIC, the Australian Sports Commission and the Australian Institute of Sport to lift on-site sports participation.
Clubhouse launch schedule
Court bookings at the Robina venue are active now. The adjoining clubhouse food and beverage operation opens before the end of September 2026.
