By George, long-term property game in play
An ambitious property play that, by George, could be a long game, is brewing overlooking the Main Beach Tourist Park.
It involves a Sydney developer and four buildings, one of them a 15-floor building called The George that is a legacy of a late-’80s property boom.
The developer is Steve McMillan, who sits in the boss’s chair at the Citta Property Group.
The end game, should it eventually come off, envisages development of a 35-floor tower, a three-level apartment six-pack, and an upgraded The George.
The McMillan private camp already has nearly $13m worth of skin the game – public records show it owns four apartments in The George, a pair in each of two other properties, and one in a fourth.
The buildings, between them, offer frontages to Montgomery, Stafford and Mountbatten avenues.
Steve is making no secret of what he has in mind and the residents in the buildings appear to be being kept in the loop.
They’re being told that he has two motives – firstly to protect The George from “inappropriate” development of adjoining land.
His other motive, apparently, is that his own idea of redevelopment might “integrate, protect and extract value” for other owners in The George.
McMillan entities own four of the building’s 15 apartments, buying a one-bedder in 2020 and since adding three more, two of them four months ago, for a total outlay of more than $6m.
His other holdings – two in a lowrise called Mainview in Stafford Ave and three out of four villas in adjoining three-floor properties in Mountbatten Ave – have cost $6.9m.
The question of whether he ever gets to 100 per cent in each building appears to rest on when, or whether, a planned change to the law happens.
That change, in some circumstances, could make an owner with a 75 per cent or more holding in a building able to proceed to compulsory acquisition of the balance of the apartments.
Steve might need that rule change – it seems not all the owners in Mainview or The George are on side.
Steve, prior to the formation of Citta in 2002, had been with several major national property companies.
Citta, the company he heads, has worked on projects for state governments, universities, and a hospital and even the 2006 Melbourne Commonwealth Games village.
The tennis court at The George, which covers around half of the 15apartment building’s 1648sq m site, appears a key piece of the mooted McMillan amalgamation.
A lure being put forward for owners in The George is that in return for ceding the court, the building would get a cash lump sum, which could be used to bring it back to new condition and pump up the sinking fund.
Any money left over could go to owners. The George’s owners, although without a tennis court, would have the use of resident amenities in the new tower, such as a fitness centre, wine storage, and car and dog-wash facilities.
The tower, tagged “the new George” and southwest of the existing The George, would have about 120 apartments targeted at the owneroccupier market and spanning from 120 to 500sq m.
The bottom line, from a McMillan perspective, is that if enough of The George owners don’t support the planned project, Steve ‘reserves all rights’ to proceed with a development of the Mainview and villa sites.
SCHOLARS BY THE RIVER
Jae Fraser and Andrew Heslehurst, partners in childcare industry business The Scholars Group, have dived into the Paradise Waters riverfront big-time – they have spent $17.2m.
The spend-up has netted them three adjoining properties in Admiralty Drive, two modern homes and a single-level older one, which between them sit on more than 2000sq m of land.
Two of the properties were bought from one seller, Shirely Park, for $11.5m.
The Scholars Group, started by Jae, offers childcare centre owners both management and consultancy service and is based in Southport.
$22M BOWLS CLUB DEAL
Ying Dou, a Sydney fellow involved in plans for a 52-floor Broadbeach tower called Assana, is believed to be part of a Sydney group’s quest to buy the Surfers Paradise Bowls Club site in a $22m deal.
The purchase, unveiled in 2021, has failed to go ahead, as has Assana, with its highway-front site at one point quietly on the market.
The push to sell the bowls club land, which spans half a hectare, was mounted by its joint owners, mayor Tom Tate and accountant Barry Pinkstone.
The site previously has been approved for a 56-floor tower called Waterglow.
TOWERING NEIGHBOUR
Soheil Abedian, these days a private developer after winding down the previously listed Sunland Group, is set to have a close neighbour in a planned Broadbeach tower project.
Brisbane’s Di Carlos family is to construct a building with 15 full-floor apartments on a $3.65m, 516sq m site in Anne Ave.
It will be on the western boundary of land for which an Abedian company is in the process of designing a tower.