Third time lucky at strip’s St Tropez site
AN AMBITIOUS Chinese chap who wanted to make a $60m-plus investment in the Gold Coast’s St Tropez is back, for the third time and with a more modest goal.
Four years ago, Liang Sun had his sights set on the major Surfers Paradise property that wears the very sunny name of St Tropez.
His assault on the unit, retail and office property and its blue-chip Orchid Ave site ended in a shambles.
He followed up with an approval for a skinny 24-floor tower, with 20 apartments, overlooking the ocean near the heart of Surfers Paradise.
The tower, Kaia, was approved in January last year but has yet to materialise.
Now the 41-year-old Liang has popped up at Biggera Waters with plans for a shorter tower on a prominent corner facing the Broadwater.
It’s been named Sun 402, the number being the address in Marine Parade for a site on the corner of the high-traffic Brisbane Rd.
The 1081sq m site is owned by Liang’s Jade402 (jade is highly prized by the Chinese), a company which traces back to his Star Property Group.
It’s been occupied by an old three-storey, nine-title unit block called Bar View.
Liang’s Jade402 company got a $3.923m amalgamation of the property across the line when it paid $600,000 for the final unit in June.
Calamvale resident Liang intends using the Bar View site for a 14-floor building with a ground-floor commercial area, 43 apartments, and with a penthouse that shares the top floor with a pool and entertaining deck.
Sun 402 is quite different to a plan put forward in 2018 when a building called Jade 402 was unveiled and was to be 13 floors, with 72 apartments and a restaurant and cafe at its base. The proponent on that occasion was company Cre8e, of which Liang was a director.
It has since been deregistered.
Meanwhile, there’s no sign of Liang reigniting his St Tropez ambitions.
Four years ago, he targeted the 88-title low-rise, which was developed by Jim Raptis 40 years ago and sits on a juicy 4434sq m Orchid Ave site.
The exercise was a messy one and culminated in a Liang company going to court to try to get deposits back from more than 50 St Tropez owners.
Another Liang entity, also in 2017, popped up as the real owner of the last house remaining on The Esplanade in Surfers Paradise.
Driftwood had sold at auction for $6.55m, with winning bidder Sunshine Coast town planner Jason Hague telling the Bulletin he would use the house as a family holiday home.
When it came time to settle the buy, it was Liang company Vividly that appeared on the title.
Driftwood originally was a four-unit low-rise but was converted to a seven-bedroom house prior to being sold to Vividly.
The “house”, which had seven bedrooms and six bathrooms, was changed post-auction to three rental apartments.