Cav’s development a little underdone
THINGS are far from cooking with gas for a 90-year-old developer who last year became the owner of the former Cav’s Steakhouse site at Labrador.
Arthur Lowe had plans for a 13-level apartment tower, one that had been on the slow burner since it was unveiled by the Cav’s owner in 2016, to be fired up after the restaurant was razed last year.
Now the burner appears to be on slow again and some of those hired to help with the project aren’t happy.
Arthur, a member of the property industry seniors’ club and best known for his tenure as owner of the Horizon Shores marina and for developing the Koala Town estate, bought the Cav’s site from the restaurant’s owner, Richard Cavill, for $7.5 million 15 months ago.
There was an arrangement for a Brisbane developer, apparently David Turner, to have a role in the project and there were plans to update the tower’s interiors to 2021 levels.
An October announcement from the Lowe camp about the Cav’s demolition said the Frank St project, originally called Inspire, would be renamed Arleen Residences and be under way within weeks.
Arleen was described as bringing a new level of luxurious living to Labrador, close to the shores of the Broadwater.
The announcement said the construction job had been awarded to the CMD group, which had been building on the Gold Coast for 38 years, with work “set to begin in weeks following the completion of the demolition”.
Now it appears David’s departed, Arleen has stalled, and consultants taken aboard for the project are not smiling.
Some say they haven’t been paid for the work they did and are engaging lawyers.
It’s now a question of whether Arthur will re-fire the project himself, seek help from another developer, or sell the site.
Cav’s long-term operator, Richard, knows all about the frustrations that have followed since he first decided to go down the tower track with Inspire.
He and his then project offsider, developer David Cherry, achieved sizzling early sales but not enough to qualify for bank lending.
The steak-master then went through financially costly engagements with a Gold Coast construction company and a Sydney marketing group as he battled to get the development under way.
Eventually Richard decided it would be better to stick to his cooking and he put the Cav’s site on market.
Along came Hope Island resident Arthur and a deal that apparently would, in addition to money, see Richard get the management rights and the lease on space for a Cav’s Emporium at the base of Arleen.
Whether that new Cav’s eventuates at Labrador remains to be seen but, in the meantime, Richard’s still satisfying steak lovers but in a new location. It’s in a building at Runaway Bay, until October home to the Gotham venue, and has a rooftop bar.
A Cav’s regular says Cavills Steakhouse, as the venue is called, naturally is ‘firing’.