Jewel developer Yuhu Group’s bold plays in Australia, Gold Coast

YUHU Group made a bold play taking on the Gold Coast’s $1.4 billion Jewel towers — but it was not the Chinese-backed company’s first bold move in Australia. And it looks like it won’t be the last.

WHEN Yuhu Group shelled out $1.13 billion for the under-construction Jewel triple towers at Surfers Paradise earlier this year, chairman Xiangmo Huang was bullish about the project.

He called the ambitious design of the crystalline high-rises “brilliant” and was happy with progress: “Our guiding principle as a developer is ‘built to last’ not ‘built to sell’ and we are also very community-minded and want to fit into the local fabric.”

The company and Mr Huang’s bold entry into the Gold Coast property market certainly wasn’t their first bold foray in Australia for Mr Huang or Yuhu Group.

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The construction site for Jewel, which is owned by company Yuhu Group. Photo: Supplied

In December, last year, when Labor senator Sam Dastyari resigned from federal Parliament, Mr Huang was dragged into the scandal.

In the lead-up to Mr Dastyari’s departure, it was reported he’d told Mr Huang during a conversation that his phone was most likely being tapped by intelligence agencies.

It prompted then-Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull to say: “Whose side is (Mr Dastyari) on? Is he on the side of the agencies that keep us safe or is he on the side of a foreign government?”

In March, Mr Huang did not hold back challenging Australia’s political parties to follow West Australian Liberal MP Andrew Hastie and return $2 million in donations his companies had paid since 2012.

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Xiangmo Huang and his son Jimmy Huang at the construction site for Jewel. Photo: Supplied

Mr Huang said if Labor and the Liberals were serious about distancing themselves from him, they should return funds and he would donate to charity.

Fast forward to May this year — soon after Yuhu Group’s Jewel property play — and Mr Turnbull, Labor leader Bill Shorten and other state leaders had endorsed a major Australian-Chinese community event in Sydney organised by Mr Huang. The gala dinner was to mark the 200th anniversary of Chinese migration to Australia and involved about 280 community groups.

As for the stalled Jewel site, it is understood Yuhu Group aren’t interested in stopping at just one Gold Coast project and see the city as a desirable location to invest.

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The Jewel triple towers have topped out but work on site stalled two weeks ago. Photo: Supplied

Someone close to the Jewel project told the Bulletin they believed Yuhu Group had a good understanding of the Australian construction market and could see the ambitious development through to completion.

“Wanda came in with a very outsiders view of what the project should be. Maybe Yuhu, having been around in the Australian market longer, have more of a clue and can deliver something closer to the original intent … a better outcome for the project and locals.”