REMEMBER WHEN

GOLD COAST BULLETIN Thursday June 18, 2009

CONNECTIONS of Gold Coast tycoon Terry Morris launched a bold bid for a $63 million sports club and retail village at Carrara that was spruiked as the eventual home for fans of the Coast’s AFL team.

Brisbane-based developers Bramley Properties proposed a sprawling 35,000 sqm megacomplex opposite the Carrara stadium that comprised a leagues-club-style sports club similar in size to Southport Sharks, with shops, restaurants, offices, a takeaway plaza and a fine food and produce market to rival Ferry Road Markets.

Bramley Properties’ two shareholders were Greg Bitomsky and David Jackson – respectively a former adviser to Mr Morris and a former executive of Mr Morris’ company, Morris International, whose interests included mail order and data processing businesses.

While Bramley lodged the proposal with the Gold Coast City Council, one property insider suggested Mr Morris could well be operating in the background – a positive thing for the city, they said.

"He’s in there pulling the strings somehow and that’s a good thing – Terry’s a bloke you can deal with, a bloke you can trust," said the source.

Mr Morris however denied any link with the development, saying he had sold the land to his former adviser and employee about six years earlier as part of a massive selldown of his assets.

"I gave them advice, which was that the precinct was going ahead and that the State Government was very involved, so to work closely with the Government’s plans for the area," he said.