‘Community hoodwinked’: Failed FNQ projects that never got built
On paper they were the stuff of dreams, but grand plans for these mega resorts and casinos never stacked up according to a Cairns leader that reckons Cairns was “hoodwinked” by developers.
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GUNG-ho councils, lack of development clarity and a community being “hoodwinked” by grand plans that never stacked up have been cited as reasons for a host of failed Far North mega projects.
The Far North is no stranger to multibillion-dollar project proposals involving casinos and resorts that have been talked about for years but have ended up being mothballed or abandoned while still on the drawing board.
The biggest was the $8b Aquis mega-resort and casino planned for Yorkeys Knob that proved just too good to be true.
Former Cairns mayor Kevin Byrne served two stints in the city’s top job in the early 1990s and then from 2000 to 2008.
Amid the lack of questions about where the money was coming from, Mr Byrnes said there was a period where Cairns Regional Council decision making was based around the premise that any development was a good development.
“A decade ago sadly Cairns started to believe, and egged on by councillors, that any development will do,” he said.
“With much of this stuff nobody scratched the surface and asked where the money is going to come from.
“I think there (has been) a lot of rhetoric and grandstanding. All these projects were announced to go ahead but they didn’t have a chance.
“The community was pretty much hoodwinked.”
Despite spending tens of millions of dollars, including an attempted takeover of the Reef Hotel Casino in Cairns, the Fung family’s dream ended in 2016. Red tape played its part, including failure to obtain a casino licence, but it dominated the headlines for more than five years.
The Fungs then bought the Canberra casino and retreated to the Gold Coast to invest more millions in property and horseracing. Aquis Great Barrier Reef was quietly shelved.
Mr Byrne said the project was flawed from the get go.
“Aquis was never going to happen, it started of a $2b project and went to $8b a few months later,” he said.
“There was never a chance that Cairns was going to host an international standard global casino.”
Others failed projects of significance included the $650m KUR-World luxury eco-resort at Kuranda, the $550m Nova City tower development in the Cairns CBD and the billion-dollar global tourism hub.
Urban Development Institute of Australia Far North co-chairman Nathan Lee Long said it would be many years before such large projects would be considered again.
“I think it will be a long time before projects like that will come up again,” he said.
“Proponents probably are not in the position, the market is not there. Those projects require a booming travel market. Without that, people will look elsewhere.
“Proponents will be shy of (announcing) grand plans, given the history. They are very cautious.”
AXED
– October, 2021: Nova City development terminated as Aspial’s World Class Global cancels $550m tower project. It rocketed onto the scene with a bang but ended in a whimper with developer World Class Global (WCG) writing to pre-sale buyers to say their new apartments would not be built. The seven-tower project, with structures ranging from 17 to 20 storeys, was planned for Spence St, opposite Cairns Central shopping centre.
– August 2020: A finance regulator shut down of the firm behind a much hyped redevelopment of Dunk Island was the final nail in the coffin Mayfair 101. ASIC won a key legal battle to wind up M101 Nominees in February 2021. The collapse of James Mawhinney’s company left noteholders scrambling to claw back an investment worth $67m and forced the fire sale of dozens of high-end Mission Beach properties. Dreams of a $1.5bn tourism mecca were dashed in 2020 at the repossession of Dunk Island by the Bond family.
– July, 2020: The billion-dollar global tourism hub development next to the Cairns Reef Casino is declared dead in the water. The Queensland Government ended the global tourism hub process for Cairns which required international tourists as well as a multibillion-dollar investment from a global investor. There were three companies short-listed: Hard Rock International, the Reef Casino Joint Venture and The Star Entertainment Group.
– December, 2019: Failure to overcome traffic hurdles proved the final nail in the coffin of the $650m KUR-World eco-resort slated for farmland west of Kuranda after a three-year running battle with the state government. It was to include a 5-star, 200-room eco-resort, a 4-star, 270 apartment hotel, 56 lifestyle villas, 286 premium villas and two multi units comprising 60 units, 21 Queenslander lots, 25 glamping tents and a12-hole golf course and clubhouse.
– December, 2016: The Fung family announce a review of the proposed $8.15bn Aquis Great Barrier Reef Resort planned for Yorkeys Knob. It was later quietly deleted from the company’s list of projects. The project, which was being developed by the Hong Kong-based Fung family, was to include five hotels, casino, 18-holegolf course, convention and exhibition centre, aquarium and a theatre.
– September, 2016: $1.97bn Integrated Food and Energy project, Etheridge. 65,000ha of cropping land, including sugar cane and guar bean, 241,000ha of grazing land, a bioprocessing precinct, incorporating a 4.8 million-tonne sugar mill, 200,000-head meat processing plant
1000ha of red claw farming.
IN DOUBT
– Half Moon Bay Cairns, between Yorkeys Knob and Trinity Park. The Gasparin Group’s Half Moon Bay “Chinese-influenced” development includes 1700 resort-style units, a retirement complex and a 300-room six-star resort with a 103m cantilevered swimming pool.
– C3 Cairns. A $550m C3 tower development including one 24-storey high and two 23-level towers in Sheridan St, opposite the city’s convention centre.
The 796-unit complex was to involve a mix of residential and holiday accommodation, as well as office and shopping spaces.
– $1.4bn Ella Bay resort, Innisfail. Redevelopment of a 470ha cattle station into an integrated
tourism and residential community involving three resort precincts comprising 860 units and villas and four residential precincts comprising 540 residential homes.
ON HOLD
– A planned $300m Fairmont resort dubbed the biggest construction “since Christopher Skase” at Port Douglas looks doomed after being rejected by Douglas Shire Council planners.
The 253- room five-star resort was proposed on Port Douglas Rd.
– Ghassan Aboud’s $250m marina redevelopment at Port Douglas.
– Melbourne-based rich lister Tim Gurner’s $60m beachfront hotel and apartments. Mr Gurner has now lodged a fresh development application for four luxury homes on the site. The previous plan was for 16 villas and 18 hotel rooms.
– Crystalbrook Collection owner Ghassan Aboud has placed one of his Cairns properties on the market. The 120-124 Grafton Street site is currently used as a council carpark with frontage extending all the way through to Lake Street.
– $45m Adventure Waters Water Park. The website suggests a 2023 opening. Proponent Paul
Freebody says: “With the recovery period after Covid-19 and the strength in investment and building in Cairns and the region, we are speaking to possible investors.”
– $400m Pregno family business park, Edmonton, a masterplanned development focusing on a broad range of retail, business, industrial, health and lifestyle sectors.
– Transformation of the Acacia Hotel on the Cairns Esplanade owned by Hong Kong businessman Benny Wu into a vertical retirement facility.
– Debate about where to build a $1.5m lagoon-style water park in Port Douglas has been a major stumbling block for the multimillion-dollar project partially funded to the tune of $1.5m by the state government.
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