Simply ‘rapt’ with bustling Broadbeach
THE Taiwanese founder of what might be the biggest privately-owned bubblewrap company in the world shows signs, in dollars, of being “rapt” with Broadbeach.
Robert “Ching-Chin” Hsu, who founded Polycell International in Taiwan in the 1970s, and family have spent more than $30m buying a tower site and an office building in the suburb.
They plan a 170-apartment tower in Britannia Ave, a street which runs from the Gold Coast Highway to Broadbeach Boulevard and the beachfront.
Their “rule Britannia” faith also is shared by Sri Lankan investors who, through an entity owned by their aptly-named Monarch Royals company, have bought into the street and drawn up high-rise plans.
The Hsu family’s Polycell Property Group wants to go to 39 levels, while the Monarch team is aiming for a more modest 22 floors.
Robert Hsu set up Polycell’s first Australia plant in 1992 and these days company records give his address as the southern suburb of Rochedale.
The group today operates multiple plants in Australia, along with others in Taiwan, New Zealand and the US.
The Hsu family’s Polycell property arm first popped up on the Gold Coast in the second half of last year when it spent $12.15m tying up an 1831 sqm holding that also has a Surf Pde frontage.
It’s occupied by the Vaucluse, Danna Lodge and Donna Lea lowrises, which between them have 15 units.
The Hsu plan involves a tower with two full floors for resident recreation and four levels of basement.
The Polycell team, which has gained development approval, might be able to watch building progress from its other Broadbeach buy – a six -level office building two blocks to the south.
Polycell spent $22.5m in January buying the 16 Queensland Ave property, one which six years earlier sold for $11.86m.
The site on which Sri Lankanborn Oshani Darakankanamage and Buddika Kulasekara plan their 22-floor building has been bought for $2.58m and, at 607 sqm, is less than a third of the size of the Polycell holding.
Their ambition is to deliver a tower with 17 apartments, all with four bedrooms, and including a split-level penthouse.
Britannia Ave is on the northern side of central Broadbeach, a location where the high-rise potential has drawn an array of developers.
It’s an area with parkland and the Broadbeach bowling greens at its heart, the light-rail on the doorstep, and the surf as an eastern boundary.
Developers such as Barry Morris – he’s back for more – and Danny Andrews already have struck tower success and plenty of others are following in their footsteps.
They range from Canberra’s Graham Potts, making a return to the Broadbeach space after an absence of several years, to Brisbane’s Mosaic and Ferro property groups and 27-year-old former Bond Uni student Ayrton Mansi.
Perennial high-rise developer Jim Raptis also is part of the northern Broadbeach scene.
He’s popped up with a Chelsea Ave holding on which he initially aspired to erect a 41-floor building but subsequently he’s put his $6.06m site on the market.
An entity run by former execs of multi-billionaire Harry Triguboff’s Meriton group is out to beat that with a 52-floor biggie called Assana.