NSW-based developer Virtical has snapped up the largest undeveloped landholding in Southport for $19 million, just days after acquiring a Melbourne city hotel.
Virtical, headed by Mark Toma, was previously known as Core Asset Development. Its portfolio includes a residential, hotel and hospitality project at Eden on the NSW South Coast and new addition, the Adelphi Hotel in Melbourne, for it which it has just paid $25 million to a group of investors including founder of property group Resimax, Ozzie Kheir.
On the Gold Coast, it bought the 1.1 hectare site with prominen exposure to the Nerang and High Street intersection from Aland. The Sydney-based developer had bought the site in 2018 and secured approval from the City of Gold Coast for a four-tower complex with 1,156 apartments, 137 build-to-rent dwellings, 966 car spaces and retail floor space, and a 1,369-seat function and theatre facility with four conference rooms.
The largest of the four towers would soar 71 storeys, or 237 metres, making it among the tallest buildings on the Gold Coast.
Aland founder and director Andrew Hrsto said he initially identified it as a unique opportunity in a future growth centre.
“We were attracted to this site because of its proximity to the surrounding schools, shops and medical businesses, and we could see there was a growing demand for quality, affordable housing in the area,” he said.
“After careful consideration, we made the decision to release this asset, which is surplus to our requirements, so we can continue to focus on our growing Western Sydney and Central Coast portfolio.”
Aland’s New South Wales project pipeline has grown to more than 1,300 apartments under construction this year in regional growth areas such as Merrylands, St Marys, Parramatta, Gosford and Schofields. It’s expected they will complete 652 apartments in the second half of 2023, while a further 6,500 homes are in the planning and approval stages.
CBRE managed the sale of the Gold Coast site.
Renovation and expansion play
Virtical’s other purchase, the Adelphi Hotel, is set for a renovation and expansion play.
Located at 187 Flinders Lane, the hotel has 34 guest rooms and features a famous glass-bottomed rooftop swimming pool that reaches out over the street nine storeys below, as well as a cocktail bar, events space and boardroom.
The hotel opened in the 1990s following a warehouse renovation.
