Couran Cove Island Resort’s reversal of fortunes

THINGS are finally looking up for South Stradbroke Island’s Couran Cove resort, with increased bookings a welcome Christmas present and property values on the rise

Couran Cove Island Resort. Picture: Richard Gosling

THE sun is starting to break through the clouds for the value-battered owners of property at the Couran Cove Island Resort after years of despair over plunging prices.

The sprawling resort, helped by the stewardship of two listed companies, is regaining the lustre it had when it was created by American philanthropist Chuck Feeney nearly 20 years ago at a cost put at more than $250 million.

It is almost a case of paradise lost being found again on the golden sands of South Stradbroke Island.

Couran Cove Island Resort.

The resort has enjoyed its best Christmas in a long time, with bookings up enormously on the previous year.

Also heading up are property prices, which have been hammered for the past eight years thanks to factors such as the GFC, receivership and a subsequent sale when the Feeney camp chucked in the towel in 2011, a move followed by a fractious era between the resort’s then new owners and its bodies corporate.

Today there’s a sense of tranquillity at Couran – the internal “war” appears to be over. The bodies corporate are financial, and all parties are pulling in the same direction.

Buildings have been revitalised, pools repaired, a tavern installed, beachfront clamping plans laid, a fine-dining restaurant by the ocean is buzzing, and activities – new and old – are on the fun menu.

Owners of Couran Cove’s villas, apartments, and eco-lodges are seeing welcome light on the horizon.

They surely grimaced anew last year when a marine apartment sold for $60,000, a $100,000 discount on its previous sale.

The Couran turnaround is largely the work of companies Onterran and Eureka. Eureka was called in to run Couran Cove in September 2015 and last year fellow ASX entity Onterran bought 111 developed Couran properties – 98 at an average $104,000 – and a swag of undeveloped land.

It is hopeful of achieving more than its money back on the Couran investment by selling the developed properties, for which it hopes to realise around $25 million by early next year.

If it succeeds, the undeveloped land, some earmarked for 200 eco-cabins, will have cost Onterran nix.