Soul penthouse at Surfers Paradise sells at auction for $7 million
THE man who snapped up Nathan Tinkler’s Gold Coast racing operation has also forked out $7 million on the Soul penthouse.
Hong Kong billionaire Tony Fung beat out four other bidders, including veteran tourism industry player Frank Picone, to secure the four-level apartment at Saturday’s auction.
The penthouse was sold by receivers and managers PricewaterhouseCooper who took over from Sunshine Coast-based developer Juniper Group in 2012 following a downturn in the property market.
It remains the subject of a legal dispute as the previous buyer, Charlie Caltabiano, who agreed to pay $16.85 million for the penthouse in 2006, is being sued by Juniper over allegedly breaching a contract on the apartment.
A spokesman for Mr Fung said purchasing the penthouse was part of a range of acquisitions and developments planned by the billionaire including an $8.15 billion resort and casino at Cairns.
He said Mr Fung was “extremely confident” about the future of Queensland’s tourism industry and economy.
“It (buying the Soul penthouse) was a pretty good investment at half the price it originally sold for,” the spokesman said.
“It’s prime real estate in a prime location.”
The spokesman said Mr Fung’s next step would be to have architectural plans drawn up for the unit so he could start refurbishing it “as quickly as possible”.
The penthouse was marketed by John Natoli and James Ledgerwood, of McGrath Estate Agents.
They had it stripped back to a shell, removing all its fixtures and fittings, for the campaign, which was launched in January.
Mr Natoli said it was a “great result” for the market, which vindicated the unique approach he had taken with Mr Ledgerwood.
“It’s part of the confidence returning and people seeing value in the property sector.”
He said the sale meant Soul was sold-out for the first time following the purchase of a sub-penthouse for $5.3 million, which went unconditional at the weekend.
McGrath Estate Agents chief executive John McGrath said the sale was “probably the most confident result we have seen since the GFC”.
“This is a 7 million sale but in reality it is a 10 million sale when you end up fitting it out,” he said.
“We have seen a few sales around that mark since the GFC but this is the most confident result we’ve had.
“It shows people are prepared to pay for quality and invest in the luxury end of the Gold Coast market.”
