Car rental guru Will Brice snaps up exclusive island retail property ahead of tourist strip overhaul
The Christmas holiday break has been a boon for North Stradbroke Island with five landmark property sales fetching multimillion-dollar price tags around the exclusive tourist strip.
Redlands Coast
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A Brisbane entrepreneur has been revealed as the buyer of four prime beachfront properties in the heart of North Stradbroke Island’s exclusive Point Lookout tourist strip.
Will Brice, who owns the US and Australian car rental site imoova.com, snapped up the properties for an undisclosed sum, believed to be more than $2 million, two days before Christmas.
Mr Brice’s latest island purchases followed his acquisition of the Point Lookout bottleshop a year ago, a move he said would be crucial to rejuvenating the Point Lookout Shopping Centre.
In November 2022, the affable businessman paid $418,000 for the 472 sqm commercial property in the same precinct as the three other newly-acquired venues.
A leading interior designer has been employed to overhaul the restaurant, once the address for The Look cafe, at the front of the precinct, which overlooks the newly completed cliffside boardwalk.
Mr Brice, who has been a property holder on the island since 1984, said the planned restaurant would be a modern seafood cafe with seating for more than 70.
One of his new properties at the centre, will be dedicated to a juice bar with a third property to be used as a health and wellness hub and cafe at the back of the complex.
“This area at Point Lookout is only expected to grow in popularity and is at the bus stop,” Mr Brice said.
“There are not enough barges coming to the island which means more people are catching the bus and this is where the bus stops at Point Lookout.
“The area is changing rapidly and there has already been change in ownership of the local restaurant and bakery, both popular with tourists.”
It is expected that the renovations at the centre will be completed before the Easter holidays.
The Mooloomba Rd sales coincided with two other multimillion-dollar landmark buys on the island before Christmas.
Island residents John and Helen O’Brien, paid a massive $3.5 million for a 582 sqm residential block of land on Hopewell St, overlooking Cylinder Beach.
A four-bedroom and two-bathroom property on Yarrong Rd, at Point Lookout also sold in December for more than $2.5 million.
The house, which is an original beach shack, will be demolished to make way for modern accommodation.
Mr Brice, the son of Wotif founder Andrew Brice, said the island was undergoing a major transformation with sales of exclusive waterfront sites more competitive than at Noosa or the Gold Coast.
Wotif is a website that provides a reservation service for hotels in Australia and international destinations.
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