Former premier Peter Beattie sells Brisbane family home for $2.19m in an off-market deal

FORMER premier Peter Beattie and his wife Heather have off-loaded the old family home in Brisbane in an off-market deal that went unconditional last week. It sold for a whole lot more than the family paid in 2003.

Former premier Peter Beattie.

FORMER Premier Peter Beattie has quietly sold the old family home in Brisbane in an off-market deal that just went unconditional last week.

The Commonwealth Games supremo and his missus, Heather, will pocket $2.19 million from the deal to offload “Atherstone,’’ their renovated 1920s-era Queenslander at Wilston.

Beattie told City Beat yesterday that he’s not sure yet where they will relocate later this month but the Gold Coast is looking better and better.

“We’re in a state of flux,’’ he said.

“With the Games only five months away, I am hoping not to live on the M1 any longer.’’

Beattie said he’ll miss the five-bedroom home on Dalrymple Street, which has a pool and offers panoramic views of the CBD from its hilltop position.

The couple acquired it in 1993 for what seems now like a paltry $310,000 and lived there during his near 10-year stint running the state through 2007.

They had previously put the property on the market in 2013 and again in 2015 with expectations it would fetch as much as $2.5 million.

But Beattie said he was satisfied with the sale price following an unsolicited offer from a local couple. “We did okay out of it. It really was market value,’’ he said.

A comparable property just down the street sold under the hammer for a nearly identical figure at the weekend.

The Beatties splashed out nearly $1.5 million for a unit at the Mariners Reach complex in Newstead in mid-2015 and lived there for about a year.

They moved back to the Wilston home for family reasons 18 months ago and are now renting out the Newstead apartment.

There’s a pretty good chance they might return to the unit once the Games are over.

GRIFFO’S CHALLENGE

Doctors gave Brisbane bizoid Damian Griffin just six months to live in 2009.

Yet, amazingly, the 47-year-old former finance industry player has managed to beat the odds so far and keep his brain cancer at bay.

He’s used the extra time wisely, helping to raise more than $600,000 for research to fight the insidious killer.

His latest money spinner plays out on Friday, when a crowd of about 200 are expected to show up for the $110-per-head “Griffo’s Lunch’’ at Victoria Park.

That follows an August river loop run known as “Griffo’s Challenge,’’ which saw nearly 800 runners rustle up $136,000 to tip in to the coffers of the Icon Cancer Foundation and Cure Brain Cancer Foundation.

Supporters included top distance runner Pat Carroll and former Olympic swimming great Libby Trickett.

It was the fourth time that Griffin’s family and friends had organised the fun run, with the first one kicking off in 2012.

One of his good mates, Queensland Rugby Union board member Mark Connors, a former Wallaby now working as state boss of FIIG Securities, was instrumental in getting things off the ground seven years ago.

Nice to see that he’s still involved today.

BOAT SHOW SINKS

It might seem counterintuitive but Gold Coast boat builders say they are so busy and strapped for space that they have canned one of their long-running annual shows.

The Gold Coast International Boat Show and Marine Expo, planned for the Coomera marine precinct in March, won’t proceed, organisers announced recently.

It started seven years ago in a bid to fire up interest in the boating sector, which was clobbered by the GFC.

This year’s show welcomed more than 23,000 visitors, who checked out about 600 boats from 230 exhibitors.

The move to scrap the expo leaves the region with just the Sanctuary Cove International Boat Show as the marine industry’s main promotional event.