Land buy reignites cable car interest
A CHINESE businessman’s purchase of land on Mt Tamborine is fuelling speculation the area could be set for a cableway development.
According to real estate agents on the mountain, the cashed-up businessman has already snapped up one property in Kaiser Rd for more than $1.3 million.
The 17.35ha property was sold by long-term resident Margaret Engels.
Agents say the same businessman has been looking to snap up large home sites on the eastern escarpment, with speculation in the bucolic hinterland community rife that a successful sale could lead to a cable car ride between Kaiser Rd and The Shelf Rd.
Jim Noort, the businessman behind the Guanaba Experience adventure park that he has proposed developing in the Guanaba Gorge between the two roads, said he had heard rumours about the move but declined to comment further.
Real Estate Institute of Gold Coast zone chairman Andrew Henderson said the purchases represented a change in the buying habits of Chinese business people on the Coast.
“While Mt Tamborine is obviously on the doorstep of the Gold Coast, it gives you a whole different lifestyle,” Mr Hendersen said.
“There are some fantastic views up there, so that could be enticing for them to purchase up there.
“What we have seen in the past is they’ve bought bigger lots on the Coast in order to build high-rises, so it raises the question of whether this is a change in the type of building they are seeking to develop or it is just one individual who has a different approach to real estate and just wants a rural retreat.
“They could be just landbanking.”
Scenic Rim Council sources said no applications for a cable car development had been made.
Veteran Mount Tamborine businessman and Cedar Creek Estate owner John Penglis said such a development would be fantastic for the mountain.
“If there was a cable car up here there would be less traffic on the road for a start,” Mr Penglis said.
“We could provide mini- buses to move people around to the various attractions on the mountain.”
It is not the first time a cable car development has been suggested for the Gold Coast Hinterland.
One involving prominent businessman Terry Morris was put forward in 1998. The Naturelink cableway would have run from Mudgeeraba to Springbrook.
Another, Skyride, was unveiled in 2014. Backers included Mermaid MP Ray Stevens, but the project was shelved a year later.
A similar development called Ecotrans was proposed by businessman Billy James in the early 2000s, but that $110 million venture came to a halt in 2003. The project would have run from Willowvale, north of Coomera, to a plateau south of Mt Tamborine in a path that would take tourists to the range overlooking Dreamworld.
Mr James said there were myriad issues anyone proposing a cable car would have to overcome,
“You need a base area to start from and finish at and there has to be a commercial area or somewhere that can cope with traffic or bussing people in,” he said.
“When I was looking at the development I was dealing with the state government, the Koala Foundation, native title. We were planning on spending $1 million a year on the revegetation and propagation of native flora and fauna.
“You have to keep those areas looking pristine to keep the tourists happy and interested.”
Mr James said there was huge tourism potential in such a development.
“We did a study that showed it would add on average another half day and night to tourists’ stay on the Coast and that would add up to billions in income,” he said.
“It’s a string to the tourism bow that the Gold Coast doesn‘t have.”