CANBERRA GROUP SELLS WHOLE COOLY BLOCK
A retired accountant is the new owner of a whole city block in the Gold Coast’s most southern location, paying an estimated $4 million in a land-bank play
CANBERRA-BASED Willemsen Group has sold a whole city block in the Coolangatta CBD to retired accountant Noel Holmes for almost $4 million.
Willemsen, headed by Anthony Willemsen, assembled a 2746sq m three-title parcel bounded by Dixon, Gerrard and Chalk streets for $2.9 million starting in 2003.
In 2009, the group laid plans for a 25-level mixed-use tower at Coolangatta, to be called ARC.
However, the project was put on hold due to the global financial crisis.
The Coolangatta site allows for one bedroom per 33sq m of the site area and a maximum building height of 24m.
The current approval lapses in March next year, however, the site comes with new modified plans, adding another tower for a 237-unit project.
Lachlan Harris and Mason Kidman, of Avanti Commercial, were the marketing agents.
They would not reveal the sale price, but it is understood to be close to $4 million.
“Noel has looked at it as a longterm investment,” he said. “He has no plans to develop the site in the short to medium term and has bought it as a land-bank play.”
Mr Holmes has a long history of investing in property.
An entity linked to Mr Holmes sold a Tweed Heads South office complex for $6.1 million earlier this year.
Mr Harris said most of the 25 inquiries, during the course of the campaign, came from Gold Coast buyers.