Old Mermaid Beach cinema: Developer Jim Raptis plans for Highway KFC site revealed

Jim Raptis secured the Mermaid Beach site for $16m last year. Now, the developer is finally making a move on it. Find out what.

JIM Raptis, a developer highly-qualified about the pitfalls of a market that’s losing its sizzle, has stepped up his selldown efforts.

The Greek-born property veteran, wearing the private of his two hats, has just sold one property and has a tower site on the market.

The sell-off pace is about to pick up, with Jim’s camp putting a somewhat larger property on the market – one for which it has yet to pay.

Jim Raptis.

It’s the home of the Gold Coast’s first cinema centre, fronting the highway at Mermaid Beach.

The property, which also houses a KFC outlet and a Sizzler restaurant, was put under unconditional contract at $16 million a year ago but the deal apparently is not due to settle for some time.

Jim appears to be sharing a sentiment that’s seeping through developer ranks.

That’s a feeling that the temperature is cooling in a market that’s been running hot for three years or so.

That feeling has translated to players other than Jim trying to ‘sell down’ their exposures to development sites.

Former site of Mermaid Beach cinema and Sizzlers

Jim, being pursued by the Tax Office for tens of millions of dollars, has two tower projects under way – Pearl at Main Beach and The Sterling at Broadbeach.

He’s selling another Broadbeach site, in Chelsea Ave, bought for $6.06 million and for which approval for a 41-floor tower was initiated.

A two-level riverfront house at Paradise Waters, bought for $4.75 million in March, has just sold, reportedly for $5 million.

Jim, in the Mermaid Beach sell-off effort, has employed the same agents who sold him the property – Canford’s Roland and Ben Evans.

A Canford online flyer says expressions of interest are being sought from would-be buyers.

The Mermaid property has been a high-profile one since Birch Carroll and Coyle opened a five-screen cinema centre in the site’s major building 41 years ago, moving out in 2002.

The Mermaid Beach Cinema complex in the 1980s

The highway-front property spans 6525 sqm, also has frontages to Crescent Ave and Gaven Crescent, and its tenants are on short-term leases.

Any new owner will, apart from KFC and Sizzler, have a medical centre and a snooker hall as tenants.

Greg Van Zeeland, the Brisbane investor who has sold the property to the Raptis camp, bought it from receivers for $5.9 million in 2011.

It has been an obvious redevelopment site for many years and the planned arrival of a light-rail station at the front door will make it an even juicier proposition.

The Mermaid Beach Cinema in 1995 while it was showing Legends of the Fall.

The height limit is nine-levels but that might well change as the city council reviews its planning rules in the light of a push for greater densities in areas such as along the light-rail path.

Meanwhile, developer Jim’s non-private role – he controls the listed Raptis Group – has him well versed about property pain.

The slump of the early 90s and then GFC put the ASX company on its knees but both times it survived as a mere skeleton.

As things stand today, the Raptis Group looks safe, even though it’s low on money.

It was down to cash of $131,000 at March 31 in the wake of the private Jim and wife Helen being paid $2.8 million by the public entity for the management rights to two buildings – the completed Gallery tower at Broadbeach and uncompleted Pearl.

By June 30 the Raptis Group cash kitty had risen to $238,312.

It ended the year with a $96,000 profit and with asset backing for each of its rarely-traded shares of less than two cents.

Originally published as Old Mermaid Beach cinema: Developer Jim Raptis plans for Highway KFC site revealed