Gold Coast business: Secret business plan next to Gold Coast Turf Club revealed

A hush-hush deal is simmering that could see the Gold Coast Turf Club at Bundall become home to hundreds of people.

A HUSH-HUSH deal that could see the Gold Coast Turf Club at Bundall become home to hundreds of people is simmering.

The word from the horse’s mouth is that it involves a billionaire and a go-getting younger developer.

The big-money man is Honkers billionaire Tony Fung, whose Aquis group is the club’s naming-rights sponsor.

The developer is George Mastrocostas, who owns the two-year-old Aniko group.

Work quietly has been under way at the club for some time on a project that’s been cantering along as Sunlight – the name on the saddlecloth of the Aquis horse that won last year’s Magic Millions two-year-old classic.

It’s believed that off to the side a heads of agreement has been drawn up between Aquis and Aniko, who apparently have been working for several months to come up with a viable development scheme.

Tony Fung. Picture: Richard Gosling

George Mastrocostas from Aniko Group.

GET FULL DIGITAL ACCESS: $5 PER MONTH FOR THE FIRST 3 MONTHS

If everything goes smoothly, mid-rise buildings housing 300 or more apartments could sprout beside the track.

A hotel might also be part of the mix.

That’s all subject to a tick from the turf club, which is known to have balls of its own up in the air in terms of development options.

One source says Sunlight, if it proceeds and in whatever form, is intended to put the club on a stronger financial footing.

Apartment forays already are being undertaken at two other major race tracks –Moonee Valley in Melbourne and Eagle Farm in Brisbane.

The Moonee Valley club has teamed with a developer for a project that could involve 2000 apartments.

Mirvac, in tandem with the Brisbane Racing Club, has embarked on a $950 million venture called Ascot Green, in which stage-one towers are nine and 12 levels.

SYDNEY DEVELOPER HARRY TRIGUBOFF LABELS GOLD COAST CRUISE SHIP TERMINAL A ‘MUST HAVE’ FOR CITY

Gold Coast turf Club at Bundall

MELBOURNE CUP CELEBRATIONS: GOLD COAST MAYOR TOM TATE GOES OFF AFTER BACKING WINNER

The suggested site for the Bundall project takes in land that today houses the Dome.

Don’t expect the project, if it proves to have legs, to gallop ahead.

A green light is needed from both the city council and the State Government.

The move to build on racing club land emulates what is occurring at some south-east Queensland golf clubs, where spare land is being utilised for retirement villages.

A Gold Coast example is the Burleigh club, where RetireAustralia is developing a multi-level village.

Aquis boss Tony, a 69-year-old who spends much of his Gold Coast time on his boat Asteria, is heavily into racing and owns the 447ha Aquis Farm breeding property at Canungra.

GOLD COAST ROSLYN UNITS HELP BERNARD AND CORRINE TRAFFORD REAP $5M

Gold Coast Turf Club.

His Gold Coast assets include a site at Narrowneck that is approved for a 480-room hotel and a stake in what’s known as the Vomitron site, a complete city block on the northern edge of central Surfers.

Aniko’s George is a 38-year-old father of three who went solo as a developer last year after he and former partner Evan Raptis dissolved their Emandar group, which had built hundreds of apartments at Biggera Waters and Varsity Lakes.

Meanwhile, it seems Tony and Aquis might have committed to extending his relationship with the club, both in name and money.

He entered into a naming-rights deal in 2017 that saw the race venue tagged Aquis Park, home of the Gold Coast Turf Club and Events Centre.

THE executive ranks at home-grown housing company Villa World appear to have been decimated in the wake of the Broadbeach company’s takeover by the US-linked AVID group.

Sources say eight or so of the people who have steered the company have departed, including managing-director Craig Treasure.

They’ve apparently been put on ‘gardening leave’ – for three months they can’t take new jobs that are in conflict with the Villa World business.

THE Sunland Group, in the midst of an asset selloff, quietly has added the undeveloped residential land at The Heights estate at Pimpama to the mix.

The Benowa-based group already has Mariner’s Cove, Bushland Beach, and two commercial sites at The Heights for sale and has sold The Lakes retail area.

It’s believed The Heights, snared by Sunland after the demise of Peter Drake’s LM group, might still have 200 or more housing titles to be developed.

PETER Giuffre, well-heeled legal eagle, is selling a development site put together since 2017, and for a tad over $3 million, in his home suburb of Main Beach.

He’s asking would-be buyers to step forward for the two-lot 1062sqm holding in Hughes Ave, land which carries a high-density zoning.

Peter decamped from Main Beach in 2010 with the $3.8 million sale of an Ocean Isles apartment but returned in 2012 after selling a Paradise Waters home for $5.8 million.