Sex doesn't sell for city brothel

THE operator of a long-running Burleigh Heads brothel is blaming “unregulated” citywide massage parlours for killing off his house of sin.

He inked a $950,000 deal on Monday to sell the site occupied by Secret Liaisons, just eight months after shelling out $1 million to buy it.

Ray White Broadbeach commercial sales consultant Adam Grbcic, who marketed the property with his father Tony, said the owner-operator was leasing the premises when he bought the building and 2031sq m block in the Burleigh Gardens Industrial Estate in November. Just a month later Secret Liaisons closed its doors.

“Apparently one of the big reasons was the amount of massage parlours that are unregulated and take a lot of business from the licensed places,” Mr Grbcic said.

Last year, the Bulletin revealed 140 new underground brothels operating as massage parlours had opened across the Gold Coast in just 12 months.

Tony Grbcic said the brothel had been operating more than 15 years, formerly trading as The Black Orchid.

“Despite being fully fitted with all fixtures and chattels, including pink fluffy dressing gowns and an array of moisturisers, we found 90 per cent of the inquiry was for alternative uses.

“The building will now be knocked to the ground.”

Surfboard products company, Southcoast Foam and Fibreglass, has bought the site and plans to use it for a depot.