Triguboff buys third Gold Coast site as Chinese flee

Some developers have been moving out of the market citing high construction costs. But Meriton is moving in, with the country’s wealthiest real estate mogul planning a major project.

Harry Triguboff in his office at Meriton. Picture: John Appleyard

Meriton founder Harry Triguboff has purchased a major Gold Coast site for a billion-dollar project of 1000 apartments, buying it from Chinese developers who have been wanting to retreat from the nation’s housing market for at least four years.

The show of confidence in the Gold Coast from Australia’s wealthiest private developer comes days after Melbourne’s Central Equity pulled out of developing a $500m project in Surfers Paradise, dumping plans to build 486 apartments because of rising construction costs.

But Mr Triguboff says the Gold Coast market is a magnet for southern retirees because of its cheaper housing and warmer weather. He has just completed the beachfront 76-storey Ocean tower and has another tower, the Iconica, under construction.

On Friday, Mr Triguboff sealed the deal to acquire the 8083sq m site – part of the former Vomitron amusement ride. It is a full city block at the northern end of the CBD, one block back from the beach. It has been on the market since 2016.

Mr Triguboff’s Meriton Group plans towers with 200, 300 and 500 apartments in separate developments on this site.

In a statement, the veteran developer said the latest buy showed his “immense confidence” in Australia’s tourism capital. He said it also reflected the popularity of Queensland, which was leading Australia in migration, and the need for more housing in the “magnet” that was the Gold Coast.

The buy – from exiting entrepreneur Tony Fung, CCC International and Tandellen – mirrors Mr Triguboff’s 1990s move into nearby Main Beach when he pounced on land owned by exiting Japanese groups who had spent up big on site purchases.

The price of the latest buy, Mr Triguboff’s third in Surfers Paradise in five years, has not been disclosed. However, he said on Sunday that he had paid $58m buying the land that houses the beachfront Ocean, the Gold Coast’s tallest tower, in 2017.

Last year Mr Triguboff paid Singapore’s Banyan Tree $75m for a major site on The Esplanade, north of Ocean, and has started work on 55 and 78-floor towers on Iconica.

Mr Triguboff said his new site purchase was made against a backdrop of a Surfers Paradise housing market that was strong for both sales and rents.

“The market’s resilience through Covid and other economic setbacks has given us enormous confidence to embark on more development,” he said.

“Remarkably, Surfers is still growing and we feel there is much more potential.

“It excites us that so many people today want to call it home.”

Mr Triguboff, who signed the deal on Friday, said he already had commissioned early drawings of the buildings planned for the new site and which would enjoy 360-degree views.

“We plan to include a dining precinct, complete with a major supermarket and specialty and service-based retail. The immediate area surrounding the site will benefit from a well-planned retail centre and we are eager and excited to provide it.”

The latest Meriton buy, which includes Highway and Ferny Ave frontages, is the major part of a whole 1.05ha city block for which the Chinese developers paid Japan’s Orix group $36.5m in 2016. They have been trying to exit for four years and earlier this year sold a corner of the site, which has four street frontages, to Brisbane-based Chinese developers.

Meanwhile, Meriton is on the verge of settling the final stage in Ocean, which is on The Esplanade and has a Meriton Suites hotel and 404 apartments – including the highest on the Gold Coast.