Gold Coast: The Shore apartment tower at Surfers Paradise hits the market among stiff competition
A longstanding Gold Coast tower could be washed away by the high tide that’s running in the property development game. FULL REPORT >>>
Gold Coast
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THE Shore, one of the oldies among Surfers Paradise apartment towers, could be washed away by the high tide that’s running in the property development game.
The 51-year-old building, which overlooks the ocean on The Esplanade, has been slipped on to the market without fanfare.
It’s been ‘basketed’ with two adjoining sites to form what many in the property business would see as a tasty morsel in development terms.
The three properties span 3453 sqm and the amalgamation hasn’t just an ocean aspect, but Ocean Ave and Gold Coast Hwy frontages too.
The 15-floor The Shore, when it was completed in 1970, was a hit with buyers but its appeal has been overtaken by newer buildings.
Today it’s marketed as offering budget accommodation for travellers.
The building, should it have a date with a demolition team, will share the fate of Surfers towers the Iluka and the International Beach Resort, aka the Apollo.
Beachfront building the Garfield is being bought by Sydney’s Sammut Development and
Alceon groups and also is set to become rubble.
The owners of The Shore, with the market for development sites running hot, apparently have decided that it’s time to exit.
The view’s been taken that a sale is more likely as part of a larger parcel – one offering more scope for a developer.
The other parts of The Shore parcel are owned by David Fang, who is associated with the listed ASF group, a one-time contender to build a Gold Coast integrated resort.
He spent $15 million in 2018 buying the Dolphins low-rise, which fronts The Esplanade and is vacant, and the property behind it – the Pitstop convenience store and bottle shop with fronts the Gold Coast Highway.
The properties later were marketed as a 1720 sqm site but no sale materialised.
The Roland Evans-headed Canford agency, which had a front seat in that campaign, apparently has been enlisted to woo the market with a site that has doubled in size.
The land has a high-density zoning, no height limit, and is large enough to allow a staged development of two towers.
Only two major sites have sold and settled, or been created, on The Esplanade over recent years.
The first was the $50 million amalgamation of a 4423 sqm site at the northern end of the street by international hotel and resort operator Banyan Tree.
The Singapore-based group paid $11,300 a square metre, for the site, which Meriton’s Harry Triguboff has put under contract, apparently at close to $17,000 a square metre.
‘High-Rise’ Harry outlaid $58 million, or more than $15,000 a square metre, in 2016 for the 3833 sqm holding on which he is building the 76-floor Ocean tower.
The Shore amalgamation, if it achieved a similar rate, would realise north of $50 million.
The owners within The Shore, which has vacant restaurant space at its base, would fare handsomely in such a sale.
The one with the longest tenure paid $59,000 in 1986 and only two owners have paid more than $300,000 – the highest figure was $340,000 for a spot on the top floor eight years ago.
Time will tell whether The Shore offering hooks some big fish – a sale is no ‘shore’ thing.
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