Eagle St Pier’s billion-dollar deals and Hollywood star visits
It’s been the scene of billion-dollar deals, visits from Hollywood stars and even an embarrassed crown prince – now Brisbane’s iconic Eagle St Pier is about to be bulldozed.
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It’s been the scene of billion-dollar deals, visits from Hollywood stars and even ejected an embarrassed crown prince – now the iconic Eagle St Pier is about to sail into the sunset.
The city’s business elite will gather at the pier tonight at an event hosted by the Property Council to charge their glasses one last time to the iconic 33-year-old venue on the Brisbane River before it is demolished to make way for a new development.
With a bevy of eateries including Il Centro, Char Char Char and Jellyfish, Eagle St Pier was the place to be seen as well as wheel and deal in the 1990s and 2000s.
Former Il Centro owner Andy Georges recalls legendary stockbroker Paul ‘Porky’ Morgan scribbling details of deals on the backs of napkins before tucking into lunch.
Among the mega deals celebrated at the pier over the years were the $60bn liquefied natural gas sale between BG Group and the China National Offshore Oil Corporation in 2010, the $7bn privatisation of rail operator QR National and the creation of Suncorp.
Georges says the pier was not only a place to do business but for journalists to obtain tips for stories.
He recalls the late City Beat columnist James McCullough was a regular at Il Centro.
“People used to hide under the table when they say James coming,” says Georges. The now retired restaurateur, whose eatery was legendary for its crab lasagne, says the heyday of the pier was prior to the global financial crisis.
“I would sell 300 to 400 crab lasagnes a week,” he says. “I used to say sand crab put my kids through school and university.”
Property king David Devine remembers many meals sitting in a corner table at Il Centro and watching the world go by.
“It was a fantastic place to bring people from overseas and interstate and they would remark wow this is a great spot,” says the veteran property developer. “Andy Georges was a great host and the speciality crab lasagne was great.”
He said Il Centro was the scene of many deals over the years including property giant Leighton’s decision to take a major stake in his own company Devine Group for close to $100m in 2007 and its later decision to divest itself of the holding.
“Both deals were done in the corner table at Il Centro,” says Devine, who recalls then Leighton boss Wal King told him over a three-hour lunch at the Il Centro that “we will conquer the world.”
Morgans chairman Tim Crommelin says the pier experienced the peak of the business lunch era.
“Lots of business was done there,” Crommelin says.
“The business lunch has declined something recently but hopefully the redeveloped pier will be just as popular.”
Eagle St Pier also attracted its fair share of celebrities who would pop into Il Centro or Jade Buddah to sample the local fare.
Phil Hogan, who runs Jade Buddah with his brother Gary, says George Clooney, Sir Bob Geldof, Kate Hudson and Justin Timberlake were among the A-listers to visit.
Even royalty paid a visit, but that did not always go to plan.
In 2017, Hogan had to prevent Danish Prince Frederick from entering the venue because he didn’t have the ID needed for scanning under Queensland’s tough liquor laws of the time.
The prince was eventually let in when his police guard intervened, a situation that caused a furore and resulted in then Police Commissioner Ian Stewart apologising to Hogan.
“That was one of the biggest controversies over the years,” recalls Hogan.
Opened in 1989, the year after Expo 88, Eagle St Pier also was home to the first Coffee Club, the chain that did much to develop the city nascent cafe culture.
Coffee Club, founded by Emmanuel Kokoris, Emmanuel Drivas and John Lazarou, say the Eagle St Pier outlet will shut on July 17 in preparation for the redevelopment.
Coffee Club says it is in discussions with landlord Dexus to return when the development was completed. Lazarou says Eagle Sy Pier helped launch the chain into a global brand.
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