Development: Burleigh Heads’ Fish House restaurant set to be sold to developer for $7.8m
A building which is home to one of the Gold Coast’s most popular restaurants is set to be sold to a developer. And it could be a win for the children of former bankrupt Matthew Perrin.
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SOMETHING that a tongue-in-cheek wag might call the “catch of the day” appears to be going on at The Fish House at Burleigh Heads and it could see a win for the children of former bankrupt Matthew Perrin.
There’s a deal in the wind to sell The Fish House building, in a blue-chip spot overlooking the ocean, to a developer.
Perrin, former top man at Billabong and not long out of jail, is listed as one of several owners of the 50 Goodwin Tce site, along with ex-wife Nicole.
They are trustees for a family trust set up many years ago for their kids, who will be the ultimate beneficiaries if The Fish House has indeed been “hooked”.
A property insider says the mooted Fish House deal is worth $7.8 million.
That figure might well include buying out the business and the restaurant operator’s long lease.
The suggested buyer is Synergy Property Partners, a Brisbane group which last year built the seven-apartment North Residences on The Esplanade at Burleigh Heads.
Synergy has just bought, apparently for $12 million, the two-level unit block on the eastern boundary of The Fish House.
It’s embarked on demolition of the building, known as Roslyn, as a prelude to building luxury boutique tower Norfolk.
The Fish House site is 506sq m, half the size of the Norfolk one.
There’s been a long Perrin connection to the site that for the past six years has been home to The Fish House, a link that stretches back to at least 2000 when one of the parties that bought into it was Perrin Legal.
That was the Chevron Island practice where Matthew worked with brothers Scott and Fraser before embarking on his sometimes controversial stint at Billabong.
The ex-CEO was jailed early in 2017 for scamming $13.5 million from the Commonwealth Bank by forging the signatures.
The former rich-lister, bankrupted in 2009 with debts of $42 million, was freed a year early in June and is on parole.
He and fellow trustee Nicole, who has reverted to her maiden surname of Bricknell, hold a quarter stake in The Fish House site, with the Lindores family and Lindores Properties holding a similar interest.
The balance of 50 per cent rests with a company owned by Elaine Kelly and of which Shaun Kelly is a director.
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The Fish House surfaced in Burleigh in 2012 under the stewardship of restaurateur Simon Gloftis, who rebuilt an old house with the approval of the site’s owners.
Simon, of Hellenika Greek restaurant fame, took what amounted to a 20-year lease on the property in 2013 and sold the business, and lease, to Brisbane developer Ron Tarabay in 2016 in a deal mooted to be worth close to $2 million.
Back in 2015 the owners of The Fish House property put it on the market and it later was reported as sold to a southern buyer for about $3 million.
The transaction sank into the deep blue yonder.
Any new owner of the property will be relieved that there’s no chance of it being heritage listed, unlike a possible outcome for the $18.5 million buyer of the nearby and weary Old Burleigh Theatre Arcade.
OTHER BUSINESS NEWS
* DAVID Fitch, an Adelaide developer, and wife Rachel, who already own an $11 million riverfront mansion at Broadbeach Waters, have added an $7 million Southport abode to their portfolio.
They’ve emerged as the buyers of a Hamptons-style Yacht St riverfront house developed by former travel agency owner Greg Matthew and sold at auction two months ago.
The Fitch’s buy is little more than half the size of their near-1500sq m $11 million mansion, Villa Cantorocca.
* STEVE Kaskabas, who’s sold a Main Beach tower site to the Raptis camp, has taken an offer that’s more than $3 million below his hopes three years ago.
Evan Raptis, when he revealed the buy last week, didn’t disclose the price but market sources say it’s about $8.8 million.
Steve and wife Diana put the Main Beach Pde holding, approved for a 22-level tower, on the market in 2016 with aspirations of finding a buyer with $12 million.
* A CONSORTIUM that includes the Sunland Group appears on the verge of ending its long debate over what to build on a 1.3ha site at Varsity Lakes.
The balls that have been in the air have included twin towers, one bigger single tower and even a project that included a supermarket.
The consortium, which includes developer Ron Bakir and Harvey Norman’s Steve Cavalier, is believed to have settled on four midrise buildings.
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