Li grabs another jewel on mountain

THE cashed-up former owner of one of the Gold Coast’s biggest projects has leapt back into the Glitter Strip’s property market.

Riyu Li, whose corporate vehicle Ridong Group was behind the $900 million Jewel project in Surfers Paradise, has snapped up a Tamborine Mountain site once earmarked for a mountain bike adventure park.

The 220ha site was sold by former port-a-loo rental king Jim Noort who this year won a hard-fought battle against Mount Tamborine residents groups to gain approval to develop the property.

Mr Noort had planned to turn the site, named The Guanaba Experience, into a worldclass mountain bike park, rainforest zip-lining, rock climbing and high ropes activities which he hoped would have attracted 100,000 visitors a year.

However, yesterday Mr Noort announced he was unable to raise the capital necessary to proceed with the project and sold the property in a deal that settled in May.

He declined to name the buyer or the price paid. However, government records indicated that the property was bought by the Tian Yi Group which is linked to Mr Li.

The sale price is yet to be recorded.

The same group has also bought a 12ha cane farm at Eagleby Rd, Eagleby, for $830,000 in a deal that settled last month.

Property industry sources said while it was difficult to discern a pattern to the purchases they felt Mr Li was most likely to look to land bank the sites.

Mr Li came to the attention of Gold Coasters when the Ridong Group bought the Jewel site from failed Gold Coast finance group City Pacific for $81 million in August 2009. A resurgent property market and a boom in fellow Chinese buyers meant that investment paid off for the group within five years, with Ridong selling 55 per cent of the project to Wanda in 2014 for a reported $300 million.