Clive Palmer keeps Coolum Resort raiders at the gate
Palmer is asking for $21m for his Coolum Resort, including the burnt-out T-Rex skeleton. Picture: Glenn Barnes. Source: News Corp Australia
Hotel groups including RACV and Accor have approached billionaire Clive Palmer in the past 18 months in an attempt to gain control of the beleaguered Palmer Coolum Resort.
Former staff members and agents close to the mining magnate and politician have told The Australian that both hotel operator Accor and Victorian insurance giant and resort owner RACV had made separate approaches for the beachfront resort, formerly known as the 5-star Hyatt Regency Coolum.
Mr Palmer is understood to have rebuffed both offers because they fell short of his asking price of $21 million.
Accor rejected the claim, while sources close to the company and Mr Palmer revealed it had offered to buy the site in conjunction with another financial backer, in an agreement that would have given Accor management rights and a freehold over much of the property to the backer.
RACV, which owns other resorts in the area including the Royal Pines Resort and the Noosa Resort in a portfolio worth more than $575m, told The Australian it was “very happy” with the performance of its Noosa Resort and “has no plans” to acquire the Palmer Coolum Resort.
A number of listed retirement groups have also run a ruler over the site, with a view to converting the 150ha property with varying sized villas into a retirement community operating on a deferred management fee structure.
The revelations come at a time when members of the community living around the Sunshine Coast landmark are calling for more clarity the its future direction of the asset, which once hosted PGA tournaments and was regarded as one of the most luxurious hotels in the country.
“The region as a whole is missing out on a major economic driver and economic opportunities,” Coolum Beach councillor Jason OPray told The Australian.
“Without question, it was the greatest asset we had … it was a major employer of the area, a great contributor in the tourism sector and hosted many of the signature events for the region. To not have it in full flight has an impact on the region in its entirety.”
The resort, which has been remodelled under Mr Palmer into a Jurassic Park-style theme park with model dinosaurs and a vintage car collection, suffered a major setback in March when a model Tyrannosaurus Rex (“Jeff”) and the park’s drawcard was destroyed by fire.
Shortly after, the resort was stripped back to a skeleton staff in early March, with more than 40 redundancies as the resort closed ahead of a refurbishment.
Mr Palmer and resort chief executive Simon Stodart have kept the details of the upgrade and its estimated value a closely guarded secret. Mr Stodart has told reporters designers were still drawing plans and the concept would released as soon as Mr Palmer had made a choice.
Sunshine Coast councillors have been similarly kept in the dark about the nature of the plans.
“I have been given zero information,” Mr OPray said.
“I guess there is an air of uncertainty and scepticism about it, absolutely, and I think that everybody wants to see it back to the glory days, will it get there? Well there’s a lot of work that needs to be done.”
Resort operators with conference facilities including the Novotel Twin Waters resort have been overrun with demand as capacity for large-scale conferences at Coolum has shrunk, due to lower staff levels and operating instructions to turn some clients way, former staff members said.
“The Sunshine Coast is crying out to get some decent large-scale accommodation and places that can host major events … there’s only so much the other operators in the immediate area can pick up.”
If a sweeping redevelopment is to happen at the resort, Mr Palmer must first win over the site’s villa and apartments owners as they hold the rights titles over the land on which their villas sit.
Mr Palmer in the past two years has attempted to buy out villa owners in a bid to gain control of the land titles that many are unwilling to relinquish.
This week villa owners in the “President’s” enclave of the resort were offered $31,250 a quarter share, to be paid through an initial down payment of $1562.50 and the balance to follow in 15 months.
Source: The Australian - 18th June 2015
