City Beat: Reborn Qld Irish Association buys Fortitude Valley property
Brisbane’s Irish Association used to occupy a heritage-listed building in the City, complete with fancy ballroom and arched ceilings. Its new digs are somewhat more modest.
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With all the latest news and gossip on Brisbane’s business movers and shakers, this is The Courier-Mail’s City Beat column:
LUCK OF THE IRISH
The Queensland Irish Association has given members a first look at their new digs in Fortitude Valley, to be named Claddagh Hall.
But if you are expecting the lead light panels, polished wooden floors and arched ceilings of their former Tara House HQ in Elizabeth St, you may be a wee bit disappointed.
Claddagh Hall, purchased for $1.8 million by the association, is a modest two-storey concrete block building in a street adjacent to the RNA showgrounds.
Rather than the grand ball room and panelled bar of Tara House, Claddagh Hall features a carpeted interior and what that club calls “a very usable outside space at the side of the building.” It’s been five years since the association was forced to sell the heritage-listed CBD clubhouse after appointing liquidators.
The writing was on the wall for the association for years prior to that after accumulating losses of $2.8 million between 2006 and 2013. Some would say the association has been fortunate to recover in any shape or form.
The heritage-listed Tara House in Elizabeth St was sold for $8.1 million to pay off creditors and has since been transformed into a cinema complex.
According to the association’s latest financial report it still has substantial assets, including a term deposit of $2.9 million and cash of $123,178.
So even after the purchase of its new building it will still be in a solid position. Queensland Irish Association president Jeff Spender remains upbeat, telling members the organisation was now in the next phase of rebuilding a “refreshed and vibrant” association for current and future members. “We have now completed another concrete phase of rebuilding our beloved association with the purchase of this fine property,” says Spender. The top floor of the building will be leased out to a tenant.
BRAND POWER
KUDOS to our homegrown lender up on the range, Heritage, which has been named the country’s most trusted bank brand.
JD Power’s 2020 Australia retail banking satisfaction study found Toowoomba-based Heritage Bank ranked highest for brand authenticity covering issues such as fee transparency, trust and help to customers in a crisis.
It’s the second year in a row Heritage has topped the rankings, a result welcomed by chief executive Peter Lock. “You cannot fake authenticity so we are particularly proud of these findings,” says Lock. “Queensland punches above its weight in the financial services sector with several challenger brands including Heritage, Suncorp and BoQ.”
Part of Heritage’s appeal is the decision to expand its branch network as other banks close outlets. The bank announced earlier this year it was looking at taking over some branches earmarked for closure by Suncorp saying customers still needed person-to-person contact.
Lock says Heritage is looking at several former Suncorp sites in Sydney and Brisbane. One inner-city Brisbane site could become a Heritage community branch, a joint venture model under which half of profits are returned to the local community.
ADVISER FACES COURT
A former Macquarie financial adviser has faced a Brisbane court charged with a string of dishonesty offences.
Warren Scott Acworth appeared in Brisbane Magistrates Court last month charged with 27 offences, including 16 counts of making false or misleading statements and five counts of fraud in relation to the sale of financial products. Acworth worked as an adviser with Macquarie Equities between December 2015 and May 2018.
The matter will return to the court on January 29. The matter is being prosecuted by the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions (CDPP) following a referral from ASIC. Acworth has been placed on bail with condition that he does not leave Australia without informing the CDPP 21 days prior to intended travel.
BRIGHT IDEAS
THE call is out for innovative Queensland start-ups to go into the running for a $50,000 grant provided by law firm Bolter.
Bolter, a law firm for start-up businesses founded by Clifford Gouldson Lawyers, has launched expressions of interest for its Little Giant Start Up Grant that aims to give a funding boost to early stage companies.
BDO director of start-ups Marc Orchard, who is one of the judges of the grants, said start-ups would discover a lot of opportunities as Australia came out the recession.
“You find that as an economy moves out of a recession there is a search for new ways to do things and make money,” says Orchard. “After the global financial crisis, companies like Uber and Airbnb emerged.”
Orchard says there were increasing opportunities for companies in digital commerce and the working from home sector. The judging panel will announce five finalists who will compete for the main prize during a pitch night in March.
