Patience has reward
The protracted and complex arrangements for Nobby’s Outlook may soon come to fruition
WEARY owners in weary Miami resort Nobby’s Outlook at last could be on the verge of cashing in their chips.
Seven years after a move to develop the ocean-facing property first surfaced, Nobby’s Outlook looks set to go on the auction block.
That could happen within the next few months as a result of success in a long battle to put the blue-chip 7284 sqm site under one title.
The near 50-year-old Nobby’s Outlook, beset by sale setbacks, is out of the stewardship of its body corporate and under the control of a courtappointed trustee.
That trustee has a court mandate to sell the resort and, after overcoming various complications, is in the process of appointing marketing agents.
The big complication has been achieving termination of the scheme under which owners held the resort’s 46 units.
That’s been done, the owners are now co-owners of a single-title property, and it’s understood Nobby’s Outlook will be vacant and ready for sale by the end of August.
By all accounts, the trustee has been deluged with inquiry so a sale seems likely.
The 64 million dollar question is how much will Nobby’s Outlook fetch?
Its latest government valuation is $20 million, a figure which Nobby’s owners apparently view as rather light and an appeal might be in the wind.
Interestingly, in the hot market of 2006 the valuation was $26 million, a figure which if achieved in a sale today would put a value in excess of $550,000 on each unit.
The sales journey for Nobby’s Outlook started seriously in 2010 – there had been developer offers as far back as the 1980s – and has been an ongoing source of frustration for unit owners
As the GFC was dissipating, the Sunland Group came to an arrangement that could have led to a new-for-old redevelopment of the site but the mooted plan did not go ahead.
A 2014 campaign to find a buyer or development partner hit roadblocks.
Last year, when the court appointed a trustee to sell the property, banks became a thorn in the side.
They held mortgages over some of the units and apparently were fearful of losing their mortgage security if Nobby’s Outlook was put under one title.
That issue has been resolved and the banks are on board.
Any would-be buyers of the resort will have to face up to the reality that the site, with its grand ocean views, is no highrise proposition.
Under the 2016 town plan, a three-storey project is allowed, with a possible dispensation to go to four levels.
Other options for a buyer could be to subdivide the site into several lots, build luxury units, or just run the resort as a backpacker resort pending later redevelopment.