Businessman splashes $1m to transform Point Lookout centre into gourmet laneway

A beachside shopping complex is undergoing a $1 million revamp in a bid to transform a Straddie street into a gourmet laneway featuring boutique markets and high-end eateries.

Rufus King Seafoods founder Bodean Shea and his business partner Gary Lyons are set to open up a bar and grill restaurant on the corner of Mintee St. Pictures: Contributed.

A Straddie beachside shopping complex is undergoing a massive $1 million overhaul to transform a quaint street into a gourmet destination to rival Melbourne’s laneway sophistication.

Renovation works on The Lookout Shopping Centre on Mintee St are nearly completed with the first stage, the opening of boutique local organic markets, due to open next month.

The makeover will be the first in more than 20 years for the centre and is part of the plan to shore up trade for Point Lookout businesses, which struggled to stay afloat during and after Covid.

Straddie’s culinary scene underwent major changes in July last year after high-profile businesses Fishes Restaurant and Oceanic Gelati and Coffee Bar at the Point both sold, fetching top-dollar figures.

The gelati shop has since reopened under new management and Fishes continues to be a popular spot at the Point.

Already Mintee St, which has an air of peaceful luxury, is home to a boutique bottleshop, art gallery, The Blue Room Café and the Prawn Shack, known for its deluxe prawn-and-avocado rolls.

Rufus King Seafoods founder and owner Bodean Shea outside his new venture in Mintee St. Picture: Contributed

But its reputation as a culinary haven will be sealed when island seafood tsar Bodean Shea opens his five-star bar and grill, Six Beaches, in late August.

Mr Shea, who also owns one of Brisbane’s best-known fresh seafood retail outlets Rufus King Seafoods, said the new restaurant would complement The Prawn Shack, his walk-in beach-style servery, also on Mintee St.

Despite the spectacular outlook across the Coral Sea, the site of the new grill restaurant has been home to at least four other outlets including the most recent, French Ease, along with the Look, or Buddha Bowl and Stone Fish.

“We are prepared and have taken our time and we are not rushing anything at the moment – and Mintee St is now becoming a popular shopping and food precinct,” Mr Shea said.

“We have a chef who has fine dining skills from Europe and depending on how things shape up, we may even employ a second chef as an expert consultant.

“Being opposite the Blue Room café makes it the perfect spot.”

Businessman Will Brice said the much-needed million-dollar-plus renovation of his Lookout Shopping Centre was necessary as island businesses played “catch-up” after Covid and the end of sand mining.

Will Brice has splashed out more than $1 million on renovations of the beachside Lookout Shopping Complex at Point Lookout where the local Mintee St is being transformed into a sophisticated foodie destination.

Mr Brice, the son of Wotif founder Andrew Brice, snapped up the complex after financial woes struck Gold Coast businessman and former owner John Henson following Covid in 2022.

“With the two new restaurants Six Beaches and The Kiosk, this street is going to be the hub for foodies who live here and also for tourists,” he said.

“It will be a gourmet’s paradise complete with the top-end Straddie Market Co’s Produce and Pantry, a nearby bakery, the gelati shop and the restaurants overlooking the sea.

“Point Lookout has always been a favourite spot for whale watching, but now it is also becoming a destination for food enthusiasts.

“We know the island is attracting visitors from Brisbane who want to enjoy a day trip filled with gourmet experiences.”

The Straddie Chamber of Commerce has also played a role in the island’s transition from mining to tourism and has set up subcommittees at Point Lookout, Amity and Dunwich to focus on issues for each business district.