Ridong Gold Coast’s Ri Yu Li and Macau casino boss Loi Keong Kuong part of consortium to buy Spirit site from Forise Investment

A high-powered consortium, including a long-time Gold Coast investor and a Chinese casino mogul, has emerged as the buyer of the stalled $1.3 billion Spirit site.

Plans for the Spirit project are likely to change.

LONG-time Gold Coast investor Ri Yu Li has emerged as part of a consortium to buy the site of the stalled $1.3 billion Spirit project.

If the sale is finalised, Macau casino boss Loi Keong Kuong and his family will be majority owners of the Trickett St site where struggling Chinese company Forise had planned to build the Gold Coast’s tallest tower.

Mr Loi, 59, owner of Macau’s Rio casino, is believed to have sealed the deal early last month after chartering the $300 million 2-Deer Dreamliner private jet and staying 10 days on the Gold Coast.

The jet, which reportedly costs $104,000 an hour to charter, stopped for a day in Sydney after its Gold Coast visit before returning home.

Mr Li’s Ridong Group was previous partner in the Jewel development with Wanda Group, before selling to Yuhu Group last year.

The consortium created a company on Valentines Day called 3 Trickett Street Pty Ltd, with directors including Mr Loi and two of his children, Canadian-born Loi Jack and Macau-born Loi Ka Hou.

The company registered a mortgage over the Spirit site on February 28.

Ridong Australia have a 10 per cent stake in the company while the Loi family, through a company incorporated in Melbourne, have 60 per cent; Macau resident Kun Man Ieong has 10 per cent; and Port Melbourne resident Chi Wai Leong holds 20 per cent.

The Spirit site sale is still in due diligence stages and also subject to Foreign Investment Review Board approval.

Ridong chairman Ri Yu Li. Picture: Scott Fletcher

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The group also previously owned land at Carrara earmarked for the Song Cheng Australiana theme park, and has plans to transform 47.5ha Tallebudgera Valley site into a “wellness and tourism gardens’’ project.

The new owners are understood to have paid $50-60 million for the 3494 sqm site, on which former owners Forise had already spent more than $120 million preparing to build what would have been an 89-floor tower.

Ridong Group has declined to comment on the deal and the Bulletin is attempting to contact Mr Loi.

It’s not Mr Loi’s first foray into Gold Coast property - he bought the Soul Boardwalk retail and dining centre at Surfers Paradise for $90 million just before Christmas.

An Artists' impression of the luxury villa at Ridong's Tallebudgera Wellness and Tourism Gardens Project.

One big player confirmed to be sniffing around the project was Meriton billionaire Harry Triguboff, who at one stage was a serious contender to buy it but eventually declined.

The project stalled in September after Forise Investment Australia, a subsidiary of China’s mammoth Fu Hua Group, ran into financial trouble, falling behind in rent, commissions and consultants’ payments.

The Bulletin yesterday revealed Forise’s debts landed them in court last week after WorkCover Queensland brought insolvency wind-up action over $18,695 in unpaid insurance and late fees.

The case was dismissed on Thursday and the Bulletin understands the debt has been settled.

An aerial of the Spirit development in Surfers Paradise in November. Photo: Supplied.

It is unknown whether Forise’s apparent withdrawal from its Gold Coast investments will impact its ASX-listed mining company Frontier Resources, which has Southport lawyer Tony Hickey on its board.

Mr Hickey’s Hickey Management ceased its project management of the Spirit site in September, a month after Forise took a majority stake in the Perth-based mining company, which is also listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange.

Mr Hickey declined to answer the Bulletin’s questions, citing confidentiality.