Pub titan Arthur Laundy vows to ‘clean up’ Sheraton Grand Mirage on the Gold Coast

The buyers of the Sheraton Grand Mirage on the Gold Coast have already committed to spend up to $30m to renovate the sprawling resort.

ESCAPE DEALS 26 JUNE 2022 Sheraton Grand Mirage Gold Coast

The powerful joint venture buyers of the Sheraton Grand Mirage on the Gold Coast have already committed to spend up to $30m to renovate the sprawling resort they snared on Monday night from embattled casino operator, The Star Entertainment.

Pub mogul Arthur Laundy said he and joint venture partner Sydney’s Karedis group had committed $20m to $30m to “clean up the joint” having paid $192m to outrun the private equity backed Hawaii-based Outrigger group for the property – long billed as the best positioned hotel on Queensland’s Gold Coast.

The Laundy and Karedis family portfolio of jointly owned hotels now comprises around $600m worth of properties positioned in peak beachfront locations, including the Sheraton Grand Mirage, the Crowne Towers on the NSW Central Coast, Sydney’s Manly Pacific Hotel and the Sofitel Noosa, arguably the centrepiece of the up-market resort township north of Brisbane.

Arthur Laundy and the Karedis group have committed to extensive renovations at the Sheraton Grand Mirage, Gold Coast. Picture: Jane Dempster

While Mr Laundy would not be drawn, sources said the joint venture partners were also interested in a fifth major hotel in Adelaide to add to the burgeoning portfolio.

But on the Gold Coast Mr Laundy was talkative saying there were “big plans” for the renovation of the Sheraton Grand Mirage, which was developed by Christopher Skase in the 1980s across a 3.45 hectare beachfront site.

“There’s work to be done,” he said.

However, there were no plans to add additional hotel rooms to the property, which offers 295 rooms across 215 metres of beachfront and was picked up by Star in 2017 for $140m in the hope that they could add a casino to the premises.

The multibillionaire said some of the work proposed would need council approval and he foreshadowed it would take 18 months before work commenced.

Separately, Mr Laundy said his 90-plus pub portfolio was steaming ahead with plans to redevelop the Oxford Hotel in the inner west suburb of Drummoyne, where plans include a rooftop garden.

Mr Laundy said his daughter Justine, who has been involved with the interior redesigns of some of his Sydney pubs including the Woolwich Pier Hotel, could be involved with the reinstatement of the Sheraton Grande Mirage to its former glory.

“It’s a very interesting one that the Gold Coast over the years has been spoilt by the amount of high rise,” he said.

“But this is on an isthmus leading out and it’s a very pretty area.”

Mr Laundy also revealed there are new announcements coming with regards to the Gold Coast’s Palazzo Versace, which loses its 23 year-association with the Versace brand on July 31.

Originally published as Pub titan Arthur Laundy vows to ‘clean up’ Sheraton Grand Mirage on the Gold Coast