Pub baron Bruce Mathieson and son partner with Tim Gordon for Spit superyacht development
A rich lister national pub and pokies baron has been revealed as partner in the ritzy Spit superyacht development.
Gold Coast
Don't miss out on the headlines from Gold Coast. Followed categories will be added to My News.
BRUCE Mathieson, for years known as Australia’s pubs and pokies baron, and son Bruce have sailed into what is shaping as Australia’s most elite boating location.
They’ve teamed up with Tim Gordon and his Gordon Corp to develop Southport Spit superyacht project Mantaray Marina and Residences fronting the Broadwater.
Bruce snr, a Frank Sinatra fan, is an avid boatie, with his marine joys over the years including a 115ft catamaran.
Not surprisingly, he called it My Way.
The Mathiesons and developer Tim, the man behind Guanaba’s upmarket Rivermead Estate, are long-term friends and all are residents of the Gold Coast’s major residential money strip – the Mermaid Beach oceanfront.
Tim’s been a resident of Hedges Ave for many years and Bruce snr has lived in both Hedges and Albatross avenues – he’s called an $18 million abode home since 2009.
Mathieson jnr took an $11.6 million spot in Hedges Ave in 2018.
The family’s plunge into the Broadwater project will see them play a role in what is shaping as the most exciting era on the Spit since Palazzo Versace was completed in 2002.
Mantaray is to be neighboured by a $480 million redevelopment of Mariner’s Cove, one which include a Ritz Carlton hotel and more than 5000sqm of restaurants and bars.
Down the track there’s likely to be a new resort across the road – the Queensland Government is selling the land that houses the former Golden Door gym and pool.
The Gordon-Mathieson Mantaray is to rise – to the allowed three levels – on land bought from the government under a 120-year lease deal.
It will include the country’s first dedicated private superyacht marina and its 67 berths, of up to 60 metres, will be more than long enough to take a boat like My Way.
Indications are that there’ll definitely be a Mathieson marina presence and that there’ll also be a Mathieson name on the title of at least one of the Mantaray’s 24 apartments.
The residential offering will include 10 four-bedroom penthouses, each with a private lift and including a rooftop terrace with a pool, barbecue, and cabanas, and with basement parking for four vehicles.
The project, which will include a retail plaza, is being marketed via a sales display suite set up at the leased Golden Door gym.
Would be buyers, given the big tickets expected to be worn by the apartments, need to make appointments – in other words, the suite’s no place for the purely curious or tyre-kickers.
No apartment prices have been disclosed but they seem certain to blow out of the water those achieved for the nearby Palazzo Versace condos.
The biggest condo sale is the $6.45 million paid in 2021 by Sam Gance, one of the founders of Chemist Warehouse.
Meanwhile, the Mathiesons have wound back their pubs and pokies activities since their joint-venture company with Woolies was listed as a new entity called the Endeavour Group.
The Mathieson camp is believed to hold a stake worth more than $1.8bn in Endeavour and has a finger on the pulse at the company – Bruce jnr is a non-executive director.
The family also could be building a new mini-empire – they bought several South-East Queensland pubs last year.
While 78-year-old family patriarch Bruce snr is a near 50-year- veteran of the pubs game, Mantaray partner Tim is an old hand when it comes to Gold Coast property.
He was part of a team which built the Park Lane and Madison Point towers in the late 1980s and, flying solo latterly, has been involved in development projects for the likes of Bunnings, Harvey Norman, Woolworths, and big-box retailers.
One of his more notable ventures came at Burleigh Heads where he built a warehouse for Bunnings, bought the then cleared site back for $11.55 million 20 years later, and developed a retail centre.
He sold the property for $72.5 million last year.
PETER Puljich, a former brickie who laid the foundations for his Gold Coast family’s success in the home-park and over-50s villages businesses, has paid $15 million for a premium spot at Noosa.
Peter, whose base is a Surfers penthouse, has bought a home in Noosa Pde, where there was a $27 million sale in July.
The Puljich buy, built in the early 80s and on a 611sqm site with deep-water river frontage, apparently will be bowled to make way for a super home a stroll from the Hastings St cafes.
JACK Pakis, who’s ridden home a property winner next to the Gold Coast Turf Club at Bundall, has quit a Southport commercial property at a modest profit.
He bought the 1500sqm space at the base of one of the Noel Gordon-developed Nexus towers for $3.95 million in 2016 and has sold it to a pair of Brisbane investors for $4.4 million.
Racehorse owner and former trainer Jack bought a stables property in the Bundall equine precinct for $1.29 million in 2020 and has sold it for $3.3 million.
PHIL Usher, a quiet achiever who owns three Gold Coast high-rises, has picked up a Gilston site approved for 32 housing lots in a $3.586 million deal.
The developer and part-time farmer – he owns more than a million hectares in far south-west Queensland – has bought 3.37ha in Worley Drive from Marek and Jana Pulik.
The new asset is minor alongside other Usher holdings, which include retirement villages and the rental Sky Broadwater and twin H2O towers in Southport.
More Coverage
Why next stage of light rail has to go down the Gold Coast Hwy
While we argue over the Oceanway and cableway, a map has proved why the light rail should go down the Gold Coast Highway. See why
How art gave hope to this anorexia survivor
Diagnosed with an eating disorder as a teenager, a Gold Coast woman is no stranger to hospitals - or the “transformative” power of art as therapy. Now she is helping others who are struggling.