The Gold Coast Bulletin

Consortium’s purchase just the beginning, say pundits

- ANDREW POTTS andrew.potts@news.com.au

THE move by a prominent Hong Kong-based developer and one of Australia’s biggest car park operators to buy the Bruce Bishop Car Park for $48 million has been hailed a “shrewd move”.

The deal, cloaked in secrecy, was secured yesterday when the Gold Coast City Council voted six-two in favour of the sale to Care Park and its majority shareholde­r Far East Consortium (FEC).

The Gold Coast Bulletin understand­s there will be no immediate move to redevelop the car park.

However, it is eventually expected to be transforme­d into a mixed-use tower incorporat­ing a hotel, residentia­l units and retail offerings.

Despite being mooted as a potential site for a casino, sources last night told the Bulletin that was unlikely given FEC’s links to The Star and more than $1 billion worth of projects on the Gold Coast in Queensland.

The purchase of the car park was hailed by business and city hall figures last night a “shrewd move” as it would block any developer from buying the prime site and putting the city’s second casino on it.

“FEC are primarily developers but they also are a car parking business,” a source told the Bulletin last night.

Far East Consortium, founded in Hong Kong in 1972, is well-establishe­d in Australia as a property developer.

Its Australian headquarte­rs are in Melbourne where it has three large-scale on the books.

FEC holds a 4.9 per cent share in The Star and has partnered with it to develop the $3 billion, multi-tower Queen’s Wharf integrated resort in Brisbane, and the $400 million, 54-storey The Star Residences at Broadbeach.

The Gold Coast developmen­t, a mixed-use residentia­l and hotel complex, is due to break ground this month. FEC is also developing mixed-used projects in Sydney and Perth.

Representa­tives from Care developmen­ts Park and FEC were unavailabl­e for comment last night.

The Bulletin understand­s FEC is “bullish” about the Gold Coast property market and has been looking to buy up more land in the city as part of a long-term investment strategy.

“They aren’t just buying this to save it from another casino, they have been open (in some quarters) about bullishly pursuing the property market here on the Gold Coast and they have been looking for commercial properties to do deals – big parcels of land,” a highplaced source said last night.

“Do not be surprised to see more land being bought up.”

Figures close to the deal say they expect the site will remain a car park for at least a decade, with Care Park one of Australia’s largest private parking companies.

The council has spent more than $8 million to solve Bruce Bishop Car Park’s issues with concrete cancer. “FEC could do a mixed-use developmen­t on the site and keep most of the car park,” a figure close to the deal said last night.

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