Nobby Beach retail strip snapped up as investors target properties with future light rail exposure

A property play could help revitalise the retail strip overlooking the highway at Nobby Beach.

A PROPERTY play has been underway that’s intended to contribute to the revitalisation of the retail strip overlooking the highway at Nobby Beach.

Deals worth around $14 million are believed to have put titles covering more than 2800sq m under the control of one group, linked to unassuming developer Daniel Veitch.

They take in highway-facing shops fronting, and sitting north, of Lavarack Rd and also a cafe building in Lavarack Rd.

The Veitch camp is known to have been eyeing other shops fronting the highway – keeping in mind this was written just prior to the weekend and the coronavirus crisis really biting.

Its initial amalgamation is the latest example of developers and investors targeting areas that will have exposure to the Gold Coast light-rail service.

The line is earmarked to pass the Nobby shops as part 3A of the rail corridor.

The Veitch camp is not the only one sitting pretty should the light-rail open the door to redevelopment of the retail area.

Deals have been done for the Nobby Beach shops fronting the Gold Coast Hwy.

Waiting in the wings is fruiterer George Manettas, who for four years has owned shops that run south from Lavarack Rd to Chairlift Ave.

George is the fellow who in 2015 sold the Coco’s shopping centre at Carrara for $23.9 million. He took nearly $13 million of the proceeds to Nobby Beach and, literally, “went shopping”.

Now, with the Veitch activity, it appears two players might have a big portion of the retail strip sewn up.

The Townsville-born Daniel, 41, has undertaken a lot of cyclone-style repair work in northern Queensland.

Today he runs the Dankav group from a Miami base and has been operating on the Gold Coast for 20 years.

He’s no stranger to the Nobby retail area – he’s been a resident in nearby Albatross Ave since 2007.

Nor is he a stranger to Lavarack Rd – 15 years ago he built two up-market villas in the street.

His career has mushroomed since then, albeit it very quietly, and his rise has been built on boutique and medium-rise apartment buildings such as Lanikai in Southport and Ivy95 on the northern edge of Broadbeach.

He has his biggest venture, the 18-floor Mali Residences, under way in Broadbeach’s Alexandra Ave.

The Nobby shops have been bought through a company of which Daniel is the sole director but is fully owned by wife Katina via another company.

Fellow Nobby investor Manettas is one of the owners of the greengrocery business Earth Produce which has three Gold Coast outlets and one in Brisbane. He perhaps decided the shops he bought at Nobby Beach were slow-ripening fruit when he targeted them in 2016.

Three years ago he was given planning permission to add two levels to the single-level buildings on the corner northern end of his holding, which were rebuilt after being hit by fire in 2017.

George’s plan was to include offices and a rooftop bar and restaurant but no work has eventuated and he has some empty street-level space.

The prognosis for the Nobby retail strip, and for the Veitch-Manettas investments, depends on the city council’s attitude to height limits and densities. The existing zoning along the stage 3a rail corridor allows three levels, or 15m.