Gold Coast property: Seven-figure price to control Southport’s Sphere Unit complex

Rumours are mounting that there is a buyer waiting to take over a former V8 racer and developer’s ambitious project - was taken over by receivers 12 years ago - for upwards of $7 million. FIND OUT MORE

Mark Howard, developer and former V8 racer, had every reason to use a few ‘sphere’ words when receivers took over his most ambitious project 12 years ago.

American funds manager Morgan Stanley moved on four of his companies, including one undertaking the then partly-built Sphere on a former concrete-pipe supply depot at the back of Southport.

Mark, originally from Canada, had built more than 300 apartments but was pushed on to the sidelines and watched the job of finishing Sphere circle into other hands.

The project has been completed and Mark might well have reason to ‘sphere’ again.

Developer of Southport's Sphere development, Mark Howard.

There’s apparently a buyer in the wings for the Sphere management rights, which might go for north of $7 million.

Mark, had all gone well, would have completed Sphere years ago and benefited from the value of the rights himself.

The seller, a company which bought the rights before the balance of the 438 apartments was built, should have happy owners if a deal transacts.

The company is Sphere Partners, in which the directors are Kerry McCue and Andrew Greenwood.

It’s been running a ‘village’ with 438 apartments and on the doorstep of the Southport Sharks football club, the Smith Collective retail area, two hospitals and a Griffith Uni campus.

Sphere’s netting more than $1 million a year and a new owner has scope to improve upon that by adding more rentals to the 165-apartment letting pool.

Aerial photo of Sphere Southport development

There’s no trouble finding tenants, given a dire shortage of properties for rent.

That’s not the only pool at Sphere. The community, spread across multi-level buildings, has a choice of five pools, along with resort-like resident trimmings such as a gym, a sauna, and a barbecue pavilion.

The project was a bold play by developer Mark, has won awards, and has turned out as one he can look with a sense of pride.

That said, it hasn’t turned out quite as he envisaged when he launched it as the Metropolitan in 2007 after four years earlier buying 7.5ha from the Ready-mix group for $11.47 million.

The receivers, back in 2018 and with Sphere at the 357-apartment stage, decided to sell off a slab of undeveloped land.

The 1.76ha, approved for 40 titles. was moved to a Clarence Property trust after a deal with Morgan Stanley.

Mark Howard

Two years later, after negotiating with 13 bodies corporate, Clarence gained the nod to have the land approved for 156 titles.

The slab was sold to Gold Coast housing company Villa World just as the listed company was about to be swallowed by an arm of US group AVID.

The new Villa World owner opted to chop the number of titles back to 70 or so townhouses, some of them backing on to Musgrave Ave.

Meanwhile, Mark didn’t take long to get over his 2012 Sphere blues and went on to embark on a number of new projects.

One of them involved apartments on a former plant nursery site at Ashmore.

The chosen name perhaps was prophetic – not Sphere but Atmosphere.

The initial buildings were completed but mortgagees stepped in and took control of the balance of the Atmosphere site, land which has sold to Chinese buyers and sits vacant today.

Mark had more luck with Elysium, a classy five-level apartment building close to the beach at Mermaid Beach, and a boutique beachfront building beside the ocean at Broadbeach was a sellout.

PINTARI LOSING SIGHT

The Pintari tower

The body corporate at Main Beach high-rise Pintari hasn’t taken up a chance to protect some of the views of the Broadwater enjoyed by the tower’s residents.

An offer to sell the near 60-year-old Marcol low-rise on the northern boundary of Pintari to the body corporate was made ahead of the three-floor building being put on the market last month.

The Pintari views have been eroded by the rise of upscale tower Monaco next to Marcol, which sits on a potential tower site.

Pintari is not necessarily out of the Marcol race – it still has the option of lodging an expression of interest during the marketing campaign.

APARTMENTS SCRAPPED

Phil Usher of Philip Usher Constructions.

Phil Usher, a Brisbane developer who owns three Southport towers, has had second thoughts about building apartments close to the Coomera town centre.

Phil, whose Southport holdings include the twin H20 towers, bought nearly 19ha of scrubby ex-cattle land in Shipper Drive for $8.5 million in 2018 and went on the win approval for a project that included buildings of up to eight levels.

The four buildings were to house 214 apartments but Phil subsequently has dropped his high ambitions.

He plans to scrub the apartments idea and instead spread 247 townhouses across the land.

PLAN FOR 25 FLOORS

Jing Juan, a Sydney investor who opened his wallet on the Gold Coast in 2021, has lifted his ambitions on a Chevron Island site that is on the doorstep of the suburb’s main street, Thomas Drive.

He initially gained approval for an 18-storey tower on land that he bought for $2.1 million and which partly was occupied by the HQ of property agency Knobel & Davis.

The 55-year-old Rose Bay resident has just set out to up the ante, seeking to go from an approved 18 floors to 25 and to take the number of apartments from 50 to 82.

Jing’s 1012 sqm site abuts Chevron’s major office building, owned by eye doctor Darryl Gregor.

The content summaries were created with the assistance of AI technology then edited and approved for publication by an editor.