Buyer of Tom Tate owned Surfers Paradise Bowls Club site backs out

A buyer has backed away from a potential deal for a Gold Coast bowls club development site, owned by Mayor Tom Tate and a partner.

AN all-out campaign to sell the Surfers Paradise Bowls Club development site, owned by Mayor Tom Tate and a partner, is to be launched in the wake of a Vietnamese buyer backing away from a potential deal.

A move to sell the 4999 sqm site was started in October but halted when the buyer stepped forward.

Former Surfers Paradise Bowls Club site

Roland Evans, principal of Canford Estate Agents, said the buyer spent time undertaking due diligence on the property: “My understanding was they were contemplating a twin-tower project, one that would have been built in stages, but at the end of the day they decided not to proceed.”

Mr Evans said a national and international push would be mounted to sell the site, on which a 2013 approval for a 56-level tower called Waterglow has lapsed.

“Both national and offshore buyers are scrambling for Gold Coast developments sites. There’s a dearth of available ones and strong competition for those that do come on the market.

Mayor Tom Tate at the City of Gold Coast's council meeting. Picture: Jerad Williams

“The timing probably could not be better for Mr Tate and his partner, who both want to shift their focus.”

The Waterglow site is owned by companies associated with Mr Tate and accountant Barry Pinkstone.

They paid $2.7m in October to buy out a partner, ex-hotel operator Kelvin Gersbach.

The Waterglow holding is in Peninsular Drive and abuts an 1833 sqm Remembrance Tce holding owned by the city council and which the council previously has tried to sell.

Surfers Paradise Bowls Club, the second oldest bowls club in the city, closed a decade ago and its greens, which sit above a carpark, were abandoned.

Originally published as Buyer of Tom Tate owned Surfers Paradise Bowls Club site backs out