Tony Quinn snaps up Retail Food Group global hq site in Molendinar for $6.5M

Retail Food Group’s ill-fated global headquarters site in Molendinar has a new owner after $6.5 million sale.

COLOURFUL Scotsman Tony Quinn has bought Retail Food Group’s ill-fated global headquarters site in Molendinar for $6.5 million as he diversifies away from food businesses and into property.

Mr Quinn, who has had considerable success in business, selling the VIP Petfoods for $410 million and confectionary maker Darrell Lea for $200 million, settled the transaction this week.

He has not settled on plans for the site, but the office buildings will be demolished to make way for new buildings, possibly including a storage facility.

“Everything is a possibility to be quite honest,” he said.

Tony Quinn is diversifying his interests away from food and into property.

“The first thing we will do is demolish the office buildings. Because that is just an abortion of a thing. It is no good to anybody.”

Mr Quinn said the fundamentals of the site are sound, with a large 2.4ha landholding, in a central location that is close to Surfers Paradise.

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“I didn’t have a massive team of people working on the due diligence or anything to be perfectly honest,” he said.

“I just thought, well that’s gonna be a good buy and … there’s a shortage of land on the Gold Coast.

Tony Quinn is a colourful Scotsman with a wide range of interests, including car racing. Here he is pictured in his Lamborghini Huracan at Symmons Plains.

“If you are not in a hurry, I don’t think it’s a bad buy. We will come up with something before Christmas.”

He said the history of the site, which formerly housed the Gold Coast Bulletin, with its printing press, is also an attraction.

“It has some weird attraction, because of its history,” he said.

“I was inside the printing hall and there were still some remnants there. I just thought, what a cool thing. I wonder how many stories have gone through those walls? There have murders, marriages, developments, all sorts of stories went through there.”

RFG had big plans for the former Gold Coast Bulletin site, but it wasn’t to last. Here former RFG managing director Andre Nell is pictured in 2016 at the site shortly after purchasing it. Photo: David Clark

The $6.5 million sale price includes consideration for the transfer of the lease of 385 Southport-Nerang Rd, which is State Government land, and the purchase of the title for 4 Industrial Ave.

Mr Quinn said he is confident he can convert the lease to a freehold title.

“I don’t know the whole ins and outs, but I have been given the advice that we can clear that up and freehold the whole site. That is the intention.”

Retail Food Group acquired the properties in 2015 to centralise its operations and enable room for further growth.

The total site, which spans 24,000sq m was to house multiple offices, warehousing infrastructure, manufacturing pursuits, loading docks, access points and parking for more than 200 vehicles for RFG.

RFG improved the property by removing the asbestos and cleaning up the main building.

However, since December last year, the company has faced a firestorm and seen its share price plunge in the wake of criticism over its treatment of financially stressed franchisees, with claims that it prioritised profits for shareholders over the livelihoods of franchisees.

The share price has fallen from a high of $4.48 to a low of 35.5¢ in the past year.

CBRE’s David Corke and Luke Brechin put the two Molendinar properties to an expressions-of-interest campaign that closed on August 28.

Mr Quinn came to Australia from New Zealand and established VIP Petfoods, which he sold out of in 2015.

He bought the Darrell Lea chocolate business from receivers for $25 million, revived it using another $30 million, and sold out earlier this year.

Mr Quinn’s hobby is cars and he owns two motor-racing circuits in New Zealand — Hampton Downs south of Auckland and the Highland Motorsport Park, which he built, at Cromwell in the South Island.