Elite beauty certain to fetch hefty price
MICHAEL Witty, architect, quite probably was stimulated to twirl the ends of his lush moustache in wry satisfaction a few days back when he read that an apartment in The Ocean Isles at Main Beach was on the market.
In fact, he’s had good reason to proudly twirl every time the beachfront property has been mentioned in the past quarter of a century.
The reason – The Ocean Isles was his baby and rates as the most elite apartment building on the Gold Coast.
It has just five titles (apartments) and wealthy owners pay a concierge/butler $95,000 a year to look after everything from the grounds to repairs, providing a ride to the airport, or even stocking a pantry.
Michael designed The Ocean Isles, embarked upon it as developer in the late ’80s, then lost control of the partbuilt project in the 1990 $2 billion collapse of funder the Geelong-based Farrow group of building societies.
The Witty project was completed by receiver Tony Hodgson and the apartments marketed in 1992, fetching from $1.15 million to $1.675 million.
The highest price paid since then is $6.42 million in 2007 and the last sale, in 2016, was at $6.35 million.
A new high could be over the horizon and, if that happens, it could bring on another Witty twirl.
The Brisbane owners of a single-level apartment spanning more than 500sq m are giving it a whirl, as distinct from a twirl, on the market at a time when expensive Main Beach apartments suddenly are meeting lusty demand.
Penthouses in four towers have sold in the past couple of months, with prices peaking at $5.3 million.
Four apartments in nearly completed boutique beachfront building Sea, which is north of The Ocean Isles, reportedly have drawn buyers at up to $5 million.
Property investor Steve Anderson has latched on to the Main Beach momentum and is planning a 12-level beachfront tower with five exclusive apartments.
At The Ocean Isles, the apartments are traded infrequently – one of the five owners has been in there since the receiver sell-off in 1992 and another exited two years ago after a 24-year stay.
The apartments are up to 700sq m and there are features such as private foyers and pools with glass bottoms or sides that face into apartment interiors.
The lifestyle, apart from the cost of the apartment, doesn’t come cheap, with body corporate fees topping $50,000 a year. By contrast, it appears the fees at Sea will be around $9000 and at another boutique tower, Harvey Norman CEO Katie Page’s M3565, they are close to $14,000.
The hefty body corporate fees at The Ocean Isles haven’t deterred buyers, such as a former US senator, in the past – the apartments are an “if you can afford a Rolls-Royce, you can afford the petrol” scenario.
The next few weeks will show whether there’s a multimillionaire with Rolls-like taste willing to hoist The Ocean Isles apartment record to a new high.