Chilli hoping for hot sale on Surfers site
GREEN Chilli Project, a Sydney company that was hot to trot when it bought into the Gold Coast property market last year, appears to have caught a chill.
“Chilli”, owned by two Indians and a Chinese national, has canned plans for a Surfers Paradise apartment tower and put the site on the market.
The controversial property, once home to a Thai restaurant that became a haven for the homeless, was bought for $4.125m last year.
Two of the Chilli partners have outlaid more than $5m to pick up another two development properties – one at Miami and the other over the border at Tweed Heads.
The move to unload the Surfers tower site comes as the partners – Navraj Singh, Rajeev Agarwal and Jessie Ju – are waiting for a tick-off on their development application for a high-rise.
They no doubt are hoping getting that tick will add value to their investment.
The 827 sqm Chilli site has frontages to the Gold Coast Hwy and Frederick St – and it’s opposite Irish pub the D’Arcy Arms.
The planned tower, tagged the Frederick, would be 17 levels and have 35 apartments, three levels of basement, and a street-level cafe.
The site went through a rough time in the wake of longstanding Thai restaurant Chaopraya closing its doors three years ago.
The restaurant building was abandoned and became a roof over the heads of homeless people and a gathering place for young thugs.
It’s Chinese owner cleared the site in 2021 in the wake of a city councillor being threatened by a gang of youths when he visited the property.
That owner fared handsomely out of his investment – he paid its owner of 20 years $825,000 and sold to Chilli six months later at $4.125m.
The Chilli partners who have targeted Miami and Tweed Heads properties are companies in the Kintana group, founded by Rajeev and Jessie.
The Tweed buy, on the waterfront in River Tce, has been home to a seafood business and was bought for $3.5m 16 months ago.
The 1934 sqm property is half freehold and half Crown licensed land.
There’s been no sign of any move to get redevelopment approval for the holding.
The Miami buy, an 810 sqm site on the western side of the highway, cost $2.3m and is approved for a three-level building with 15 units. The Kintana website says the project will be “coming soon”.
Meanwhile, the move to sell the former Thai restaurant site in Surfers comes as the property market is under pressure from a jump in official interest rates.
At the same time, developers are struggling to come to terms with building costs, up 25 per cent in 18 months, and with material shortages and delays.
Some Gold Coast projects are being put on hold, sites quietly are slid on to the market, and some off-the-plan buyers are being asked to tip in more money.
Among projects shelved is a 22-floor tower overlooking the Broadbeach Bowls Club, with the site under contract to another developer.
Jim Raptis, prolific tower developer over four decades, has shelved plans for a $190m Broadbeach venture and put the land on the market.
More than 100 high-rises are either underway in the city, on the market, or awaiting development approval.