Gold Coast development: Billionairs buy big on Gold Coast
The billionaire’s boys, to put it mildly, have fared rather well on their first major property investment on the Gold Coast. SEE WHAT’S SOLD >>
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THE billionaire’s boys, to put it mildly, have fared rather well on their first major property investment on the Gold Coast.
Tony and Baron Li paid $22.37 million for an ageing beachfront Surfers Paradise tower nearly six years ago.
The sons of Chinese big-hitter Riyu Li have sold the 36-year-old property for more than twice that amount -- $45 million.
The building’s Surfers Royale, a former timeshare tower on a blue-chip north-eastern corner site in Northcliffe Tce.
It’s latterly been used for holiday rentals.
Tony, 36, and Baron, 33, who gained university degrees in Sydney before heading to the surf and sun, ‘checked in’ to the building via their Macroland Two entity by heading off a raft of would-be buyers in 2015.
The ‘runner-up reportedly was Crown casino founder and seven-times Melbourne Cup winning owner Lloyd Williams.
The attraction to all those who had a tilt was the 2251sqm site, which is a mere stroll from the heart of Surfers Paradise.
That site’s also proven a big attraction during the city’s latest boom, despite not being openly marketed.
The Li sale apparently came about because an agent who acts for the sons heard a Brisbane developer, 73-year-old David Devine, was on the hunt for a site.
Canford’s Roland Evans waved Surfers Royale in front of him and a deal was done.
The $45 million price might cause flutters of regret for the owners of the 2000 shares in Surfers Royale Pty Ltd who sold out in 2015.
They probably thought they were made when their site, in the books a year earlier at $10.5 million, fetched more than twice that figure.
Move forward six years, and the multiple has become more than four times.
The 14-level Surfers Royale, a legacy of developer the late Ron McMaster, is set to become a pile of rubble ahead of the site’s redevelopment.
Tony and Baron were on the front foot in terms of property investing in 2015.
The brothers, hard on the heels of buying on the beachfront, unveiled plans to develop for a 22-floor tower on Chevron Island, a project intended to establish the credibility of their Macroland brand.
The venture did not proceed and, instead, the Stanhill Drive site was put into a joint venture with Brisbane’s Marquee group for a building called Catalina.
The Li sale of Surfers Royale is the latest illustration of surging beachfront land prices in Surfers Paradise.
It has been made at a whisker below $20,000 a square metre.
Earlier this year Sydney developer Greg Walker paid close to $15,500 a square metre for the Angelsea Court building south of Surfers Royale in Garfield Tce, only to lose the beachfront property to receivers.
Soon after the Walker buy, fellow Sydney developers the Sammut brothers bought the 53-year-old Garfield tower in a deal believed worth around $18,500 a square metre.
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The beachfront action south of central Surfers might not be over.
The President building is a target but it seems a couple of owners don’t mind missing the boom times and are sitting tight.
An aside to the $45 million Surfers Royale deal is that it hasn’t been done by a $2 company – Devine Investments is a $1 one.
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