Mayor Tom Tate sells controversial Surfers Paradise Bowls Club site to Jewel developer
Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate has confirmed his consortium has sold the controversial Surfers Paradise Bowls Club site, understood to be worth at least $30 million.
Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate has confirmed his consortium has sold the controversial Surfers Paradise Bowls Club site, understood to be worth at least $30 million, to the developer and owner of the Jewel towers.
AW Holding Group, through its entity Remembrance Holding, is the new owner of the prime block in the heart of Surfers Paradise.
The company’s sole directors are Bo Zhang, 38 and Weimin Wang, 45, who are based in Sydney and New Zealand respectively. Born in China, they have a history of being linked to tower developments.
The bowls club site is made up of multiple parcels which were bought up by the Mayor’s Crestden consortium across a 20-year span between 2005 and this year.
Property records reveal Crestden consortium sold a 1833 sqm site it had acquired in June this year to Remembrance Holding on November 12 for $3.9m.
The same parcel had previously been owned by the council until it was sold to Turner Properties in August 2022, which then sold it on to Mr Tate on June 6 for $4.7m.
Title searches show Remembrance Holding secured the other remaining sections of the Bowls Club site in late November, giving it complete control of the site.
The total value of the sale is not known because the complete data remains unavailable.
This masthead reached out to Mr Tate, who is on personal overseas leave, for comment about the sale.
“It is a private sale,” Mr Tate said in a statement released by the mayoral office.
The Mayor, apart from when answering questions from councillors at meetings, remains tight-lipped on property matters.
In conflicts of interest debate at council more than three years ago, Mr Tate said the “value of the property would be greater than $30m”.
Several property industry sources believe the sale price could be as high as $33m.
The deal was negotiated off-market by Russell and Bob Rollington from First National Surfers Paradise who declined to comment.
Sources have told this masthead that Mr Tate had been looking to divest himself of the land holdings in recent months.
As recently as last week, sources said the bowls club site sale was being finalised with a buyer signing off on the deal.
The sale marks the end of a 20 year-plus property saga for the Mayor involving one of the Gold Coast’s prime commercial sites.
A 56-storey tower, known as Waterglow, was given the green light for the site by council more than a decade ago.
Development industry sources say the site, if amalgamated, would be considered prime for development, particularly with plans for a new civic music hall across the road.
“It’s a big bit of land and right in the heart of Surfers Paradise, those don’t come along all that often, so it would certainly be one people would be looking at,” a long-time property figure said earlier this year.
The City had hoped to get $5m for the 1833 sqm parcel of the site, and an earlier valuer’s report on it noted a $6.46m valuation. But that valuation had a caveat – that the higher price was dependent on appropriate vehicular access from Remembrance Drive.
The site’s new owners, having secured all parcels, now have that vehicular access.
In 2005, Mr Tate and business colleague Kelvin Gersbach bought the Surfers Paradise Bowls Club headquarters for $1.43m, and later its greens for $770,000, after members faced a $1m debt.
BOWLS CLUB TIMELINE
● The Surfers Paradise Bowls Club, the second oldest on the Coast and once 500-strong, owned the second floor on the Surfers Plaza Resort and the greens outside. In 2005, as membership dropped to 50, the debt for members rose to more than $1m.
● Members received offers reputed to be up to $10m to relocate. They instead agreed to a deal with Tom Tate and his business mate Kelvin Gersbach, a football club manager.
● Their company Crestden obtained the club’s headquarters for $1.43m and later its greens for $770,000.
● The new Gold Coast Commerce Club and “Crackerjack” plan never took off. In August 2010 the club board locked up the rooms, leaving 90-year-old members to clear out their gear. The body corporate and the club remain in dispute about future parking entitlements. Council officers say redevelopment will occur.
● A year later, consultant planning reports were being prepared. In 2012, Mr Tate, on the eve of an election said: “I’m happy to get what I paid for it and get out.” Mr Gersbach adds: “There is no proposed development at this stage.’’
● In June 2013 Mr Gersbach in this masthead announced plans for a $300m tower, Waterglow, would be sent to the council.
● In February 2016, the state government announced it would sell off its small parcel of land. Four months later, the council said it was ready to sell its block, for about $5m. The city moved to appoint an independent probity adviser. Mr Tate did not participate in debate, or contact any officer, and said he would remain “as far away from this as I can get”.
● 2018: Bombshell allegations are revealed in this masthead that Mr Tate and then-CEO Dale Dickson would be investigated by the state’s corruption watchdog about the sale of the Bruce Bishop car park, opposite the bowls club. They are later cleared of all allegations, including claims of conflicts of interest.
● In March 2023 there are protests from opponents after council is accused of a “fire sale” of its land parcel, which sells for $1.785m. Turner Properties, which offered the highest of the tenders received, plans to build a three-level medical centre on the prime site.
● In July 2025 Turners put land on the market. Michael Geoffrey Turner, the owner, is a veteran property investor respected for picking valuable sites. The property sale settles, with Mr Tate’s consortium having offered $4.7m.
● In November 2025 Mr Tate’s consortium sells the site to Remembrance Holding, an entity linked to Jewel owners AW Holding Group.
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Originally published as Mayor Tom Tate sells controversial Surfers Paradise Bowls Club site to Jewel developer
