Twin towers to replace Burleigh Heads building on Gold Coast following sale completion

The big dollars have changed hands and a sales effort involving a weary Burleigh oceanfront low-rise has finally ended with a sale and plans for twin towers.

THE big dollars have changed hands and a sales effort involving a weary oceanfront low-rise called White Horses, an effort which turned into the equivalent of a cross-country endurance race, has ended.

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The owners of the 49 units in the 60-year-old Burleigh Heads property have, between them, have been paid around $22 million.

The land on which their units sit now is on the way to becoming part of a larger site occupied by twin towers.

One of them, a five-star hotel, will have things unheard of at Burleigh when White Horses was planned, such as a ballroom and conference and business centres.

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White Horses owner Chris Vitale.

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Last week’s settlement has brought to a close a frustrating 13-year move to sell White Horses, which sits on a blue-chip 3035sq m site on The Esplanade, to a developer.

A workable deal finally was concluded in 2017 but with a payment date more than three years over the horizon.

Then, somewhat out of the blue a few weeks back, there was a change in ‘rider’ – Brisbane developer Ross Nielson dismounted and sold his option deal to secure White Horses to another Brisbanite, Pointcorp partner Chris Vitale.

An artist impressions of a five-star hotel proposed for the White Horses site.

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The White Horses owners probably didn’t care who paid them – they have their money and they are ‘released’ from a liability.

Had the sale not gone ahead, they could have been up for $70,000 each to prevent their already weary ‘Horses’ slumping into a state of dilapidation.

Instead, the site will be cleared and will become part of an ambitious Vitale project that takes in two adjoining properties and has a First Ave frontage.

The two 22-level buildings were approved in July and marketing of apartments could start before Christmas.

The White Horses building. Photo by Richard Gosling

The project will be a far cry from White Horses, which itself was a big undertaking when started by developer Bill Patterson in 1960.

Many of the buyers were country folk – people wanting a holiday retreat by the beach.

The 49 units were held under company title via White Horses Pty Ltd, which meant a 100 per cent ‘yes’ was necessary for a sale of the whole property.

Twice, starting in 2007, this was not achievable – the first time a $25 million offer failed to get over the line.

Then in 2016 a form of the Nielson offer was blocked in court, using a technicality, by dissenters.

The White Horses building. Photo by Richard Gosling

The White Horses board decided in 2017 that the only way forward was to use company law and put White Horses Pty Ltd into voluntary liquidation — a move that required only a 75 per cent yes vote from shareholders.

It was a winning decision.

Eventual White Horses buyer Vitale Projects, owned by Chris and wife Letitia, owns not only White Horses but adjoining low-rises Glistening Waters and Burleigh Court.

The total holding is a shade over 4000 sqm and has cost the Vitales north of $32 million.

The couple own a rural property in northern NSW and, as Chris has remarked, ‘we now own an acre beside the beach in town’.

Meanwhile, the agent who handled the White Horses sale has reason to smile.

Steven King, these days heading Colliers on the Gold Coast, finally has been paid a commission he earned five years ago.