Stanley Ho takes a swing at Gold Coast luxury golf course
Gaming tycoon Stanley Ho has emerged as the latest deep-pocketed investor to join the rising tide of investment throughout the Gold Coast, planning a $120 million luxury development at the Palm Meadows golf course.
The Macau billionaire and business associate of the Packer family has pulled the trigger on his first residential development on the strip in almost two decades, as the region sees its first green shoots in tourism and house activity after a chequered few years.
“The developer believes it is the right time to complete his vision for Palm Meadows,” a Ho family representative said yesterday.
The announcement comes as some of Asia’s most formidable developers expand their footprint and chase new opportunities in the coastal region in southeast Queensland that has experienced some of the wildest property price fluctuations in recent years.
Mr Ho’s company Hungtat Worldwide will face competition from the likes of China’s Wanda Ridong and GH Properties Australia, which have invested hundreds of millions of dollars into resort and apartment properties throughout the Gold Coast and coastal golf courses, and forged links with airlines to boost the number of Chinese visitors arriving each day.
Hungtat Worldwide will lodge the application for the 63-unit development under a new Gold Coast city plan coming into effect on February 2 that has been designed to streamline the development approval and investment process.
Gold Coast prices have recovered more than 15 per cent in the past year following major projects including a light rail and other infrastructure supporting the 2018 Commonwealth Games, according to Ray White Surfers Paradise director Andrew Bell.
Mr Bell points to projects including a $345m upgrade of the Conrad Jupiters Casino and AMP Capital’s $670m revamp of the Pacific Fair shopping centre as early investments that have helped buoy spirits and investment in the region.
