Tower halts club revival Luxury towers win out in last-ditch effort to bring back Swingin Safari
A FORMER owner of Swingin’ Safari has revealed he made a last-ditch bid to revive the noughties Gold Coast live music institution.
But the attempt was scuttled by the owner of the landmark old house that was a hub for music fans, planning instead to bulldoze the building to develop a 30-storey luxury apartment tower.
Auscont Holdings Pty Ltd, owned by Chinese businessman Zhi Qing Wu, has been lodging plans with the city council since early 2017 to transform the 916sq m block with its boarded-up old beach house, which is reportedly home to squatters.
Documents reveal the planned 101-unit tower would include 30 single-bedroom apartments, 50 two-bedroom apartments and 21 three-bedroom apartments.
Plans put forward by Zone Planning Group show the building would include external vertical gardens up the first four storeys and on levels 10 and 11.
The council is expected to make a decision in two weeks if no issues arise in planning.
But Swingin’ Safari founder Neil Beattie says he tried to revive the bar but was offered a lease that was not long enough.
“We approached the Chinese guys about reopening the venue,” Mr Beattie said.
“But the lease wouldn’t have been more than six months, which wouldn’t have been a viable business.”
Mr Beattie said he was not opposed to the development, but he said the formerly stately old home had been at the forefront of the local hospitality industry for decades after opening as the city’s first wine bar, Bacchus Lounge, in the 1970s.
It later transformed into a swanky seafood restaurant called The Crab Cooker and later into Birmos’ Bar and Cafe.
“In the 1960s and ’70s it was common for restaurants to operate out of people’s houses because they have that close, intimate feel,” he said.
Mr Beattie took over the venue in 2003, filled it with op shop furniture and turned it into one of the Glitter Strip’s coolest nightspots.
That was up until June 27 in 2014 when a team of police, council and liquor licensing officers carried out an inspection and issued a “show cause” notice, accusing the venue of operating like a tavern rather than a restaurant.
The notice reportedly “spooked” the building’s new owner, the Melbourne-linked Mr Wu, who had recently bought the block for $2.2 million, so he asked Swingin’ Safari to vacate the building.
Mr Beattie said construction of the light rail also caused the venue to struggle.
“For three and a half years