High-rise plan off the table
A TAIWANESE property group which was intending to make an Australian debut with a Gold Coast high-rise has shelved the idea and is selling its tower site.
Fong Da bought the highway-front Mermaid Beach site 14 months ago for $6.85 million from Melbourne investors. It came with approval for a 32-level sharpedged building that affectionately was tagged Blade Runner.
Fong Da is seeking expressions of interest in the property.
Roland Teh, of the PWI Group, yesterday said that Fong Da bought the site, which is home to the Tropicana Motel, with the intention of building the 116apartment tower.
“Since then its circumstances have changed in Taiwan and it’s decided to sell the property, a move which in part also reflects the strong land prices that have emerged in the area.”
The north-facing Blade Runner site, which also fronts Mermaid Ave, is directly opposite a site on which state-owned Chinese company Hubei is planning a $400 million twin-tower project, Elegance.
Hubei paid $34.1 million last year for its property, which spans 3783 sqm and prior to the Elegance approval changed hands at $4.268 million.
The Tropicana Motel site also is across the highway from a 1.13ha site, at the eastern entrance to Pacific Fair, which Singapore group Ho Bee is marketing and which is tipped to fetch more than $30 million.