Approved site sells

A LABRADOR development site approved for a 28-unit medium-rise building and a stroll from the Gold Coast University Hospital has sold for $1.3 million.

The sale comes on the heels of the 123 Musgrave Ave property, occupied by an older-style house, being passed in at $1.25 million at auction last week.

Brad Merkur, of Ray White Commercial, said the buyer was a low-key Gold Coast developer.

Sellers Seiya and Evelyn Nakayama bought the home, on a 1444sq m site, for $152,000 in 1999.

The site is approved for a six-level building with oneand-two-bedroom units and a rooftop entertaining area. TOM and Dora Low, who turned caravan-park owners at Labrador nearly 40 years ago to get into a cashflow business, are looking to go on permanent holiday.

They are chasing a buyer for their Southport Caravan Tourist Park in Frank St, a decade after it was marketed at $16 million before the GFC intervened.

Mr Low, 82, and his wife, 72, view the near-hectare property, which backs on to Huth St and is close to Loder’s Creek and Broadwater Parklands, as a redevelopment proposition.

Offers are being sought for the site, which is zoned medium-density and can take buildings of up to 10 levels.

The Lows ran a supermarket in Sydney before moving to the Gold Coast in the late 70s.

Mr Low said that he turned spec builder in the Pacific Fair area but could not sell his four houses.

“We wanted something with cashflow so we traded the houses for the tourist park and added some cash, which we borrowed at 15 per cent.”

Brad Merkur, of Ray White Special Projects, said the park was ‘blue chip’ because of the potential it offered developers by virtue of

“There is no other land of this size, and with Broadwater its size and location. views, available in the area.

“The site is a redevelopment gem that comes with the benefit of the sturdy holding income offered by the tourist park.” Mr Merkur, who is marketing the park with colleague Simon Robertson, said net annual income was $522.864.

The Lows bought the park in 1980, paid $50,000 to add an adjoining nursing-home property, and have since added two other neighbouring residential holdings.

Their original holding of 6380sq m has swelled to 9484sqm. The Low park, in addition to caravan sites, has backpacker accommodation, cabins, villas, and family cottages. In 2003 another Labrador caravan park, the 2.2ha Golden Gate, sold to developers.

THERE IS NO OTHER LAND OF THIS SIZE, AND WITH BROADWATER VIEWS, AVAILABLE IN THE AREA BRAD MERKUR