Gold Coast Development: Forise loses $50m on selling Spirit tower on Gold Coast

A Chinese company has sold the Gold Coast site on which it planned to build the Southern Hemisphere’s tallest tower. And it’s lost an eye-watering amount of money.

CHINESE company Forise has sold the Surfers Paradise site on which it planned super-tower Spirit and is heading home after taking a $50 million-plus hiding.

The beachfront site has been bought by a consortium of Australian and Asian investors for between $50 million and $60 million.

Forise paid $65 million for the 3494 sqm former Iluka tower property on The Esplanade in 2015 and later spent $40 million on basement works.

SPIRIT TOWER SELLING FAST ON COAST

Spirit’s penthouse pool

It also is believed to have spent millions of dollars on holding costs, consultancy fees, and design work.

Last week some of Forise’s Gold Coast debts were settled, including nearly $300,000 in sales commissions and possibly the outstanding rent on a $3 million beachfront sales suit that the group was locked out of in November.

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The $1.2 billion Spirit tower was supposed to rise 300 metres above the Gold Coast when it's completed, making it Australia's third tallest residential tower. Supplied

Canford Property Roland Evans yesterday confirmed that Forise had sold the Spirit site but would not name the buyers or comment on their intentions.

“I’m pleased that a deal has been done to secure the future of a project on the land,” he said.

The sale is subject to Foreign Investment Review Board approval, which appears likely given that the consortium’s make-up is partly Australian.

SPIRIT TOWER COULD HAVE BEEN MUCH TALLER

Spirit was to be an 89-floor tower with a six-floor basement.

How the luxury tower would look on the inside

The luxury tower was to include a $41 million penthouse, restaurants and boutiques.

Forise intended the DBI-designed building to be a flagship project for the ambitious group as it set out to ‘expand to the world’.

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The new owner of the Spirit site is expected to evaluate the viability of the project, given its size, and might opt for a smaller tower or just to hold the site until the next property cycle.

An artist impression of the tower. Supplied

Forise appears to be a victim of China’s crackdown on capital leaving the country and of a Chinese peer-to-peer lending scandal.

“Regrettably, since we bought the site in 2015 conditions, in terms of the movement of capital, have changed dramatically,” the company said in October.

Forise chairman Xin Wang in January sold his sub-penthouse in the beachfront Soul tower for $3.6 million.