Gold Coast development: Former Alegria site in Palm Beach sells for double previous sale price
Construction will begin this week on a new beachfront tower in Palm Beach which has been dubbed the “fastest-selling development of 2024”. FIND OUT WHY
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Construction will begin this week on a new beachfront tower in Palm Beach.
Marquee Development Partners will break ground on the tower, which is earmarked for a site which was previously owned by five-time motorcycle world champion Mick Doohan.
More than 70 per cent of its units have sold since it was put to the market in April, something which company director Jacques Winterburn said made it the fastest-selling project of 2024.
“The swift commencement of construction underscores the high demand for premium beachfront living in Palm Beach,” he said.
“Buyers have been drawn to the practical layouts and the unparalleled absolute beachfront location, coupled with the extensive amenities package for the expansive 3300 square metre site.
“Our investment of over $10 million in world-class amenities has resonated with our discerning purchasers”.
The tower is expected to welcome its first residents in the second quarter of 2026.
Wow: Jaw-dropping sale of key Palm Beach development site
When a busman and his wife paid $21 million for a large block of land on the oceanfront four years ago, it was touted as a Gold Coast record figure for a tower site slam-bang fronting the beach.
Move ahead to 2024 and the site, at the northern end of Palm Beach, has sold for more than double that – $42.9 million and is set to become home to a ‘belle’ of the beach.
A lot of water has gone under the bridge, some of it bad, at the 3304 sqm holding since it was bought by a retired Joe Calabro and wife Roma.
Their experience hardly could be called a busman’s holiday.
Joe, who with brother Tony bought Surfside buses on the Gold Coast in 1989 and built it into a multifaceted national business that even operated in the Middle East, died in October last year.
Prior to his death, the construction company building a sellout Calabro tower called Alegria collapsed just as site works were underway.
That failure by the Condev group left the Calabros out of pocket.
They went as far as lodging a proof of debt for more than $3 million with the Condev liquidator.
Subsequently, with building costs going through the roof on the 14-level Alegria, the project was aborted and buyers were given their deposits back.
It appears several developers put their hands up for the Alegria site after the death of Joe.
The one that has come out on top is Brisbane’s Marquee group, which paid out its $42.9 million late in June.
Marquee has launched a tower called La Belle and, like the Calabros, has enjoyed rapid sales success.
The land price it has paid at Palm Beach is nearly $13,000 a square metre, which compares to the $6400 paid in the Calabro purchase.
Those rates almost could be called cheap alongside those paid for beachfront land in Surfers Paradise, where the tower lots are far smaller, height limits more generous, and the apartment prices much higher.
The latest sale fronting the sand in Surfers has been at $30,000 a square metre paid by Chinese group for a 607 sqm lot in Garfield Tce.
The Calabro move into development came two years after Joe and his brother sold their bus business in a deal mooted to be worth at least $200 million.
Their 1989 purchase of Surfside morphed over 30 years into an undertaking with other arms and, trading under the Transit Australia name, had a 700-bus fleet and 1400 staff.
Joe, on deciding to venture into property development, apparently didn’t blink when shown the Palm Beach site and its 40-metre oceanfront in mid -2022.
Property figures Anthony Gordon and Paul Younan were enlisted to oversee the Land’s development.
The seller of the land was listed healthcare group Regis, which had canned plans for an eight-level aged-care project on the site, which cost it $15.6 million in 2017.
The major portion of its holding was bought from former motorcycle world champion Mick Doohan, who had shelved earlier plans for a tavern.
The Calabros’ 14-floor Alegria tower was to have 76 titles, including five beach houses, and sold out off-the-plan in three months at a median price of $2 million.
One buyer was paying $6.5 million for two of the beach houses with the intention of combining them.
Marquee, meanwhile, has enjoyed a bullish few years on the Gold Coast and La Belle will be its 11th project.
La Belle made a flying start when it was launched in May, with $100 million worth of off-the-plan sales in two weeks at prices of from $2.5 million to $7 million.
HOLY INVESTMENT
Barry Morris, a tower developer with an apparent insatiable appetite for Gold Coast sites, has tipped millions of dollars into the ‘plate’ at a major church group.
He’s paid a Uniting Church trust $8.183 million for a property in one of his favourite hunting grounds, Broadbeach.
The church has owned the Jubilee Ave holding, which also has a highway frontage and is home to flats, since 1995.
Barry, who hails from Canberra, has become a major player since entering the Gold Coast high-rise game 20 years ago and has focused primarily on the Broadbeach, Mermaid Beach, Burleigh Heads strip.
TRACY’S BURLEIGH SALE
Tracy Marais, who with hubby Steve founded ill-fated Gold Coast construction group Condev, has had a win on the beachfront at Burleigh Heads.
Tracy bought a fifth-floor apartment in the Spyre group’s Natura on The Esplanade for $2.416 million off the plan in 2020 and has sold it, after 19 days on the market, for $4.35 million.
Condev was appointed to build Natura but failed before the 17-level tower was completed.
The 2021 Gold Coast Business of the Year’s collapse left debts of tens of millions of dollars and Steve later was bankrupted.
Tracy, 64, owns an 87ha cattle property at Pumpenbil at the foot of Mt Warning, land bought for $2.35m in 2020.
ISLANDS STILL HOME
Kim England, who more than three months ago sold giant Sovereign Islands home Baltimore for $14.25 million, has gone down-market but stayed on the islands.
Kim, wife of national spa business owner Paul England, has spent $9 million on a home that is four levels but doesn’t have Baltimore-like offerings such as seven bedrooms, a 15-car basement, and a casino.
No, the basement in the four-level house that is known as The Lighthouse only has four bedrooms and the basement will take just 12 cars.
The 2017 Gold Coast home of the year does, however, have niceties such as a gym, wine cellar, library and a lift that goes to the top floor’s kitchen, theatre, and bar
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