Resort sale: Hilton owner Dr Jerry Schwartz revealed as buyer of Paradise Resort in Surfers Paradise

The owner of a luxury Gold Coast hotel has added the Paradise Resort to his portfolio and unveiled plans for a major refurbishment. Here’s what he intends to do.

The Paradise Resort in Surfers Paradise has a new owner.

HILTON owner Dr Jerry Schwartz has bought the Paradise Resort in Surfers Paradise for $43 million, unveiling plans for a major upgrade to the family-friendly hotel.

The property was bought off administrators to William O’Dwyer’s Ralan Group, which collapsed earlier this year owing $500 million.

Ralan paid $75 million for the resort in 2015, $32 million more than the current purchase price, and had plans to redevelop the site to include four new towers.

Dr Schwartz said he was attracted to the property because of its reputation as the “premier family-friendly resort” in Australia.

Dr Jerry Schwartz is the new owner of the Paradise Resort. Picture: Jerad Williams

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He said his plans post-settlement in February include an upgrade to 240 of its 360 rooms to a four and four-and-a-half star standard to broaden the resort’s appeal and appeal to a more up-market clientele. He also wants to extend the games room into unused space.

“I know that previous owners planned to knock down the resort and redevelop it for apartments, but we believe there is tremendous demand for quality family-friendly resorts, especially in such prime locations as Surfers Paradise,” Dr Schwartz said.

“I have taken over two other resorts – the Fairmont Resort Blue Mountains and Crowne Plaza Hunter Valley – and revived them as a result of diversifying their markets and enhancing their family facilities and attractions. Paradise Resort also has potential to grow further, and this purchase will give all those involved with the hotel certainty about the future.”

The Paradise Resort in Surfers Paradise was bought by Ralan group for $75 million in 2015. Picture: Jerad Williams

$277M IN BUYER DEPOSITS SPENT ON RALAN COMPANY EXPENSES

The purchase, due to settle on February 29, takes Dr Schwartz’s Schwartz Family Company holdings to 15 hotels and more than 3500 rooms across four states and territories.

The proceeds of the sale will go to unlisted public company Balmain, which holds a first-priority mortgage and Melbourne-based funder Wingate, which has a second-priority mortgage.

Dr Schwartz, a practising doctor whose family company is Australia’s largest private hotel operator, bought the Hilton hotel for $70 million earlier this year.

The Paradise Resort in Surfers Paradise has sold for $43 million.

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He told the Bulletin that the property was not reaching its potential because the holiday apartment management was mixed up with core hotel operations.

Receivers to Ralan recently put a whole city block, approved for two towers, to the market.

The 1.14ha Sapphire site is bound by Norfolk, Pine, Oak and Ferny avenues at Budds Beach on the fringe of Surfers Paradise and was acquired by Ralan Group for $19 million in 2015.

The collapse of Ralan, which developed Ruby tower, resulted in $277 million in missing deposit funds from apartment buyers.

It was found the money gone into covering losses on previous projects and for funding interest payments for previous buyers as new buyers tipped in.