Burger site lacks Elegance
THE powers that be in the Chinese province stricken by the coronavirus probably were feeling a tad sick in the stomach last year over what’s shaping as an ill-fated investment in the Gold Coast.
Four years ago the Hubei Provincial People’s Government paid $34.1 million for a former Hungry Jack’s site on the eastern side of the Gold Coast Hwy at Mermaid Beach.
Industry observers were surprised at the time by the bullish figure.
The seller had bought it for only $4.268 million in 2011 and three days before selling it gained approval for twin towers.
The Hubei-owned company that became the new owner in 2017 unveiled a project called Elegance, with towers of 49 and 47 levels and with 522 apartments.
A retail precinct was to include health-food and vitamin shops, organic cafes, massage parlours and a naturopath. There would be day spas, indoor and outdoor meditation rooms, yoga studios, and Zen gardens.
The Hubei company described Elegance as a milestone in overseas expansion that already had taken in diversified projects in Belgium, Russia, Kazakhstan and Vanuatu.
The Gold Coast was described as a dream tourism destination for wealthy people.
Ten months ago, and after apparently selling only 120 apartments, the project was taken off the market and a
Surfers Paradise sales suite closed and stripped.
The move came after the Chinese Government imposed controls on capital being taken offshore and in the wake of Australian banks playing hard ball over development funding unless there were high levels of pre-sales.
The former burger site, on the corner of Mermaid St, today sits vacant behind hoardings with no word on whether the project might be refired, scaled back, or the site sold.