George family seeks investigation into sale of former Albany Links golf course land at a loss
When council seized a South East Queensland golf course in 2012 it claimed it was to protect it from development, and paid $4.1 million. Now it’s been sold to a well-known developer for less, and the former owners’ family want answers.
Children of the former owner of a defunct South East Queensland golf course have lodged a complaint with the Crime and Corruption Commission after the property was sold to a well-known hotel developer 13 years after a council compulsorily acquired it.
The City of Moreton Bay sold the South Pine Rd, Brendale property at the November 20 auction for $3.5m to the Comiskey Group, who own the Eatons Hill Hotel and Accommodation precinct the land borders.
A City of Moreton Bay Council spokeswoman said the land was sold because it was “surplus to its needs”.
The council tried to buy the property from the George family for $1.8 million in 2012 after claiming they wanted to protect it from future development.
But their final purchase price skyrocketed to $4.1 million — $600,000 more than the recent auction sale price — after the George family took council to court and won.
The court determined the council misvalued the land as just a golf course given a buyer would have good prospects of obtaining an approval for a mixed use development, particularly if access issues weren’t a factor.
Council leased the golf course after the sale but eventually closed it in 2019 because the new private operators were unable to viably run it, later demolishing the facilities.
Council also spent an undisclosed amount on demolition and marketing.
Documents from the Land Appeal Court state the Comiskey family, the biggest and most prolific developer in City of Moreton Bay, had offered $4.5 million for the land as far back as 2009.
Company director Robert Comiskey denies any offers were made, and said neither the Georges, nor City of Moreton Bay contacted him or his family while the court case was ongoing.
At the time the block covered 10ha, but it was subdivided and only 8ha was sold to the Comiskey Group.
The Comiskeys paid $3.88m for the adjoining 5.9ha Eatons Hill Hotel site in 2006.
Council also paid $6.78m for another adjacent block, covering 9ha, the following year.
Each block featured the same zoning.
Mr Comiskey said he was happy with the auction price but pointed out that the property was not comparable with the nearby blocks.
He said the hotel site had superior road frontage, making it “20 times” more valuable, while the block they bought at auction had access problems and was sloping.
He dismissed complaints about the sale price as “sour grapes”, claiming the George family offered to sell it to him at the time of the court action.
The Georges denied that.
Mr Comiskey also stressed that it was a public auction where anyone could bid.
“How can (anyone) say we underpaid when literally anyone could bid?” he said.
“If anything, the previous owners got overpaid.
“In saying that, we’re happy with the purchase price.”
One member of the George family, Carolyn Taylor, said she was “shocked and confused” when council compulsorily acquired the property because they had been successfully running it as a golf course.
Her and her siblings said they have “nothing to gain” by speaking out about the recent sale, but want to ensure ratepayers were getting the best value for public land.
“The ideal outcome would be to have an appropriate body such as the CCC look into it, to ensure there is transparency and accountability for decision making,” Ms Taylor said.
The practising lawyer claimed council had a legal requirement under the Acquisition of Land Act to offer the property back to her mother before they shut the golf course, which occurred within the seven-year statutory period under the Act.
A City of Moreton Bay Council spokeswoman said the decision to resume the land was made by the previous council 13 years ago.
She did not reveal what council spent to demolish the facilities but said comparisons with nearby property sales were misleading.
“A valuation of the portion of land disposed of by public auction was based on criteria such as the zoning of the land, any constraints on the land and recent sales data,” she said.
“Comparisons to previous sales and valuations are incorrect due to the lesser size of the land and ceasing of activities.”
Daniel George said his family, particularly his mother Dawn, were devastated when council acquired their property in 2012, which included the home in which he was living.
He was the general manager and greenskeeper of the golf course for five years and said he put in 60-hour working weeks.
Their only consolation was that their mother Dawn passed away before the family property was subdivided and sold on.
Ray White Special Projects real estate agent Tony Williams, who helped arrange the sale for council, said the reserve price was set by them.
He confirmed there were two registered bidders on the day, with the auction opening at $2m.
His sales team was not privy to any previous offers for the land, nor the history of the acquisition in the land court.
“They’ve done an amazing job (with Eatons Hill Hotel),” Mr Williams said.
“They’re very entrepreneurial. It’s a serious operation and it’s very busy, well patronised by the local residents.”
The CCC said it could not comment on individual cases.
There is no suggestion either the council, or Comiskey Group, acted inappropriately.
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