Port Douglas resort site for sale after company collapse
Plans for a $300m resort at Port Douglas are on the rocks after receivers were appointed to the failed company whose director is now the subject of an investigation by the corporate watchdog.
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Plans for a $300m, 253-room resort at Port Douglas are on the rocks after receivers were appointed to the failed company as the director faces an investigation by the corporate watchdog.
In 2018, 75 Port Douglas Road Pty Ltd acquired a 2.07Ha parcel of land in the heart of the town’s resort strip for $7.8m.
Ambitious plans for the land were revealed in 2020 by 75 Port Douglas Road director Paul Chiodo for a huge resort complex on a scale not seen since Christopher Skase built the Sheraton Grand Mirage in 1987.
Luxury hotel brand Accor was secured as the operator of the Fairmont Port Douglas development.
“We are talking about absolute uber five-star luxury here, the very high end,” Mr Chiodo told the Cairns Post when hotel agreements were signed in 2020.
But in August last year, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission allege Mr Chiodo’s Shield Master Fund misused investor money and $4.3m was spent on an apartment in his wife’s name.
Mr Chiodo defended the allegation in the federal court last year but in November 2024 receivers were appointed to his company, 75 Port Douglas Road.
Mr Chiodo was ordered to hand over his passport by ASIC earlier this month amid further investigations by the regulator into Keystone Asset Management, where he was a director until May 27.
Now the site of the resort is for sale through Colliers Cairns under the instruction of Alvarez and Marsal as receivers of 75 Port Douglas Road Pty Ltd.
Colliers associate director Tom Quaid said the property bordering Oaks Resort and the Mirage Country Club and Golf Course featured more than 160m of frontage to Port Douglas Road and offered easy access to the facilities and attractions of Port Douglas.
“As tourism continues to recover post-Covid and we see the return of more international travellers to the region, sites such as this will become more important in repositioning
accommodation offerings to cater to a changing market,” he said.
In 2021, Port Douglas Shire Council rejected plans for the $300m Fairmont resort, which at the time prompted comments from Mr Chiodo stating the administration was “completely disconnected” from its own community.
The property is located within a tourist accommodation zone and has been the subject of a previous resort approval, however, this approval has lapsed and the property is now being sold as-is.
Potential buyers must determine their own best use subject to council approval, Mr Quaid said.
Before the latest plans for the site, in 2005 construction of the Havana Luxury Resort only just got started when developers failed to secure the $132m needed to complete the build.
The property at 71-85 Port Douglas Road is being offered for sale by expressions of interest, closing Thursday, July 10, 2025.
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