Fears legacy of Gold Coast developer Brian Ray could be swept away by city’s property boom

The standout legacy of a major Gold Coast developer could be poised to be swept away by the property boom - here’s why.

A STANDOUT legacy of Gold Coast developer the late Brian Ray could be poised to be swept away by the property boom.

Brian embarked on a four-level building with five large apartments at Mermaid Beach in the late 80s, a time when the Gold Coast was in another of its periodic booms.

The building, Seventy Nine Albatross, later was to become part of a controversy involving a former federal Minister.

Today the eye-catching building’s future is in doubt — the owners want to bowl it and put up a new building.

Their move is being made as beachfront land prices have been running hot.

Property developer Brian Ray, during the launch for his $500 million development at Mt Hotham.

Seventy Nine Albatross is on a 1619 sqm site that potentially could be worth $15 million or so.

The five owners collectively have paid less than that for their beach pads.

Their decision to replace Seventy Nine with a new BDA-designed building might be because their land today is undercapitalised but also because their 31-year-old apartment block is getting weary.

Their planned replacement is a five-level property with nine apartments, all of more than 300 sqm, and basement parking.

The new Seventy Nine would rise to the same height as its southern neighbour, Lasirena, which also is on 1619 sqm.

Brian Ray and wife Kathy died in 2005 when a light plane crashed in a blizzard in Victoria on the way to a Mt Hotham ski trip.

Brian was regarded in some circles as a visionary and at the time of his death was involved in projects which included the $750 million Salt community on the Tweed coast and a $500 million redevelopment of the Mt Hotham ski resort.

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His Seventy Nine project, which included peaked roofs, was completed in 1990 and the apartments sold for between $350,000 and $1 million.

One of the initial owners in Seventy Nine was Federal Labor Minister John Brown, a colourful fellow who held the trade portfolio.

Five years after John left parliament he was gifted an apartment by Brian and later ended up in a long stoush with the ATO over alleged tax evasion.

The upshot – in 2010 he was ordered to pay $11 million, made up of back taxes, penalties and interest.

He came to an undisclosed settlement with the ATO and avoided bankruptcy.

The Brown apartment was sold in 2007 for $731,000 by he and wife Jan Murray.

There was a Ray name on one of the apartment titles years after Seventy Nine was completed – Kathy in 2001 bought into the building for $1 million.

Meanwhile, it’s hard to equate square metre rates for land in Albatross Ave, such as the Seventy Nine site, with the rates in neighbouring Multi-Millionaires’ Row, Hedges Ave.

The traditional Hedges lots are 405 sqm, have a 10-metre beach frontage, and are 40 metres long.

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In Albatross, the lots originally were 810 sqm with a 10 to 12-metre beach exposure and with a 60-metre length.

A property guru says the market pays for beach frontage, not for depth.

He says that approach is captured by a 60s sitcom line: ‘Never mind the quality, feel the width’.