Surfers hotel site up for sale
MELBOURNE businessman Alan Ali is making a new attempt to sell a complete city block in Surfers Paradise, this time with a lure to buyers.
The 1.14-hectare property, on the northern side of the QT Hotel, is being offered with a leading international hotel operator in tow.
Known as the Hyundai site, the land currently houses a mini golf business and is approved for 48 and 52-level towers with 715 apartments and retail and commercial space.
Mr Ali, who has made a small fortune on Gold Coast development sites, bought the site for $21 million in 2014.
Two years ago it was under contract to Sydney developer William O’Dwyer’s Ralan group, owner of two city blocks on the opposite side of Ferny Ave, for $39.5 million.
Mr O’Dwyer aborted the deal and the $3.95 million deposit was surrendered.
The Ali push to find another buyer involves an expressions of interest campaign run by JLL’s Tom Gibson and Blake Goddard and which closes on November 14.
JLL says the site is being sold with a formal letter of intent from an international hotel operator for a management role. Mr Gibson yester- day said several hotel operators had shown interest before one was chosen.
He said the move to sell the Ali land came as the Gold Coast was in the midst of a tourism renaissance, with record private and public investment under way.
The site was a ‘clean slate’ development offering which would allow a new owner to take advantage of the strength in the tourism sector.
The Ali site in 2007 was owned by a joint venture between the then-listed City Pacific and the Raptis Group which bought it for $24 million from Orix.
It was sold by receivers in 2011 to an arm of Korea’s Hyundai group for $27 million and on-sold to Ali Holdings three years later.
The land had a rateable value of $31 million at June 30.
Mr Ali’s previous Surfers Paradise forays have included buying a beachfront holding for $6.6 million in 2011 and selling it in 2016 for $12.9 million.
He and his family amalgamated a highway-front site on the southern side of Surfers in 2013-14 at a cost of $10.7 million and sold it to a Chinese group for $24.5 million in 2016.
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