Rumour has it that Jordan Belfort, the notorious Wolf of Wall Street, crossed paths this week with the embattled top guns at Blue Sky Alternative Investments

City Beat has heard plenty of wild rumours but this one about Blue Sky and Jordan Belfort, AKA the Wolf of Wall Street, really grabbed our attention.

WOLF OF WALL STREET

City Beat has heard plenty of wild rumours but this one really grabbed our attention.

There was a bit of chatter among Brisbane stockbroking types this week that Jordan Belfort (illustrated), the notorious Wolf of Wall Street, had crossed paths with the embattled top guns at Blue Sky Alternative Investments.

The talk was that the convicted fraudster-turned-author-and-motivational-speaker had been spied in the Coffee Club at Eagle Street Pier downing a beverage with key figures from the struggling funds manager.

Was it just a social visit? Was he putting his hand up for a job, given the departure of MD Rob Shand and a wider reshuffle under way?

A Blue Sky spin doctor dismissed the idea as laughable and it did strike your diarist as jaw-dropping if true.

Then again, we are living in Trumpian times when the once unthinkable has now become routine.

Funnily enough, Belfort claims that he “has created the most powerful business system ever devised’’ and Blue Sky could sure use a shot in the arm right now.

Meanwhile, the financial carnage of the Blue Sky share price plummet extends to the very highest levels of the company.

Chairman John Kain picked up another 59,000 shares this month, paying $287,000. At Tuesday’s closing price of $3.16, they were worth just $186,440.

EAGLE STREET DRAMA

Speaking of Eagle Street Pier, it looks like one of Brisbane’s biggest landlords has created a few headaches for some of its best clients.

Property giant Dexus floated plans last month for a $1.4 billion staged redevelopment of its riverfront dining precinct with two new towers and the closing of part of Eagle St.

While the company has jumped through the first hurdle with the state government, it’s still very early days.

Assuming the project advances through three more stages, actual construction work wouldn’t kick off until 2020 at the earliest.

But that message clearly hadn’t filtered down to a number of patrons, who assumed some of the city’s best bars and restaurants were about to close.

Others have come close to cancelling events before learning the wrecking ball was still nowhere in sight.

City Beat spies tell us that Dexus copped a bit of flak from a few irritable Eagle Street Pier traders at a recent meeting, including one who complained that the mere spectre of the project had already hit his bottom line hard.

Dexus operatives responded by telling venue operators to convey the message to the public that the scheme was still just a proposal in the early conceptual stages.

But Dexus nixed an idea to issue another media statement on the matter, suggesting that it might just further muddy the waters.

A Dexus manager with oversight of the Eagle Street Pier did not return a call seeking comment yesterday.

ROAD CLOSURE

A linchpin of the ambitious Dexus scheme involves the closing of Eagle St between Charlotte and Market streets, as well as a small part of Creek St.

One wag has suggested this might actually constitute a de facto asset sale by the state government, which, of course, has sworn to do no such thing.

If it proceeds, the closure would surely affect access to the Riparian Plaza tower and St Stephen’s Cathedral.

It would also intensify CBD traffic congestion at precisely the time when the $3 billion Queen’s Wharf project is under construction.