Ko’s off-the-plan debut will be off the rails unless someone else picks up land

A new property player called Ko has come to town and quickly suffered what could be called a ‘k-o’ to one of its ambitions. Find out why.

A new property player called Ko has come to town and quickly suffered what could be called a ‘k-o’ to one of its ambitions.

Ko, set up last year, calls itself a co-ownership group and it sells one-eighth shares in luxury holiday homes in the Asia Pacific region.

Last month, as one of its ‘trailblazing’ initiatives, it announced its first off-the-plan offering in Australia – on the Gold Coast.

Artist impression of the Sunset Residences

The move was made in tandem with marketing group NPA Projects and involved an apartment in a planned high-class tower overlooking the ocean at Broadbeach.

Move ahead and the initiative has suffered a blow from left field.

The developers of the planned Sunset Residences building in Broadbeach Boulevard put the site on the market.

That means that unless someone else picks up the land and builds the project, Ko’s off-the-plan debut will be off the rails.

Ko had marketed the Sunset apartment as ‘a first-of-its-kind opportunity to secure your share of paradise on the Gold Coast’.

The ‘opulent’ Sunset Residences building was to be 15 floors, with 12 apartments and a tri-level penthouse.

The project was a joint venture between Gold Coaster Anthony Quinn’s QNY group and Melbourne’s Glenvill Developments on a 511 sqm site, home to ageing low-rise Karoola, bought last year for $10 million.

The starting price for full-floor apartments was set at $4.325m and the shares in the $5.5m Ko apartment were priced at $687,500 each.

The group has two other Gold Coast properties in its ‘fractional’ ownership offerings to holiday-makers.

One is an apartment in Prominence, an eight-apartment low-rise at Nobby Beach and in which the shares are more modestly priced – at $412,500.

There’s also a five-level villa in Mermaid Beach’s Petrel Ave in which each of the eight shares costs $400,000.

Ko was set up by a trio of business types, including ex-military man Ryan Fritsch, who gained a business degree in Barcelona.

Its says its approach offers investors all the benefits of being a holiday-home owner without the expense and hassle of owning a holiday home.

The mansion at Bowral in which Ko is selling shares

One of the stars in its Australian portfolio is a 1500sq m mansion at Bowral in the NSW Southern Highlands but the price of its shares is not revealed on the Ko website.

The portfolio outside Australia takes in properties in Fiji, Indonesia, and Malaysia.

There’s also a chalet overlooking Mt Yotei in Japan’s ski-resort area of Niseko, a property that can sleep up to 12 people.

The next Ko targets are homes in Thailand and New Zealand.

Ko says fractional ownership, while new to Australia, option is a rising trend in the US and Europe.

It says it co-ownership model is unlike any timeshare arrangement in that investors, via their holding, are owners in a property and can sell at any time.

Each share gives them the right to use the property for 42 days a year and they can buy up to four of them – that is, 168 days annually.

“The co-ownership approach brings all the benefits of ownership of a luxury holiday home at a fraction of the cost,” says Ko.

“It also maximises the use of the investment property, which would otherwise probably be left unoccupied for a significant portion of the year.”

Ko handles the scheduling of owners’ use of their holiday home, along with cleaning and maintenance, ‘leaving each owner with nothing to do but enjoy their property’.

SPARKLING DEAL FOR MAYOR

Daniel Hupfau, a member of the family behind famous Austrian crystal brand Swarovski, has helped put a bit of sparkle into mayor Tom Tate’s bank account.

Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate. Picture: Sarah Marshall

Daniel and Vija Koller are the couple who have bought the Carrara estate of Tom and wife Ruth for $5.8 million, handing the Tates a near $2 million gain in two years.

The new owners appear to like variety – they have a $3.7 million home overlooking the Coomera River in the Hope Island Resort and a $3.25million Broadbeach beachfront penthouse.

SOUTHPORT SITE SALE

Aland, the Sydney property group that sponsors the Parramatta Eels NRL team, has found a buyer for a major Southport site that’s approved for four towers.

Property sources suggest the sale, to an undisclosed buyer, is at around $19.5 million but neither Aland or the agents handling the sale will discuss it.

Aland bought the 1.1ha holding, which is on the southern side of St Hilda’s School and has three street frontages, in 2018 but the price never has been disclosed – it bought the company that owned it.