Grand hotel plans for Surfers site
A MORTGAGEE has taken possession of a site in the heart of Surfers Paradise that carries approval for a 25-level hotel.
The move comes after efforts earlier this year to sell the 21 Orchid Ave holding, former home of the Alive nightclub, failed to yield a buyer.
Company Grand Orchid 21, linked to entities associated with Newcastle lawyer Wayne Roddenby and businessman Robert Taylor, bought the 949sq m property in late 2015 from investor Elvio Pugliese in a deal that involved $8.8 million in cash and interstate apartments.
Mr Taylor is a director of 21 Orchid mortgagee Royal National Capital Alliance, which is licensed to operate managed investment schemes.
Real estate agencies have been canvassed over a new marketing campaign for the hotel site.
The hotel approved for the land is intended to have South East Queensland’s only rooftop pool bar, one that would afford ocean views.
The Gold Coast’s BDA Architecture has designed the hotel, which has been tagged the Grand Gold Coast and has 270 suites and a 4.5-star rating.
When Grand Orchid 21 put the property on the market, Mr Roddenby said it would take 20 months to build and that an analyst forecast it could net $12 million, before tax and depreciation, in its first full year – a forecast based on a 72 per cent occupancy rate.
Mr Roddenby, along with Newcastle developer John Byrnes, has been involved in two other Gold Coast property plays involving Royal National funding.
A waterfront development holding on Hope Island was bought for $16.5 million last year.
A Southport site was bought for $7.665 million in 2015 and approved for a 49level tower, Grand Central, housing hotel rooms and apartments.
That project has not gone ahead and the 2432sq m site, on the corner of Hicks and Scarborough streets, has been placed on the market.