Showing posts with label sea temple. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sea temple. Show all posts

Sunday, November 4, 2012

Juniper's Fire Sale of Retail Assets

The collapse of the Soul development at Surfers Paradise must be really hurting the Juniper empire.  Juniper has listed what appears to be all its retail investments for sale, looking for offers this month.  Looks like a fire sale.  The Sea Temple Gold Club at Port Douglas is also for sale through the same agents, but it is unclear if this is also a sale by Juniper.  Many investors have lost money over the years buying from Juniper.  Now it is Junipers turn.


Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Mirvac Sells Hotel Division to Accor

Mirvac announced today that it is selling its hotel division to Accor.  In Brisbane, Mirvac owns the management rights for Quay West in Alice Street and Sebel Suites in Charlotte Street.  Mirvac also owns the management rights for Sebel Maroochydore and Sebel Noosa, Cairns Harbour Lights, the Sea Temples in Far North Queensland.  Mirvac is managing the Soul complex on the Gold Coast under the Sea Temple brand.

This sale received international attention, probably because Accor is a French company.

Many investors have purchased strata titled apartments in Mirvac managed buildings.  For the most part, the income is pooled, and investors receive income based on lot entitlements.  It will be interesting to see if Accor will be able to manage such complex arrangements, where each hotel has, in effect, many different owners.

A message to Mirvac staff from management said the following:


"The strategic review has today culminated in the Board of Mirvac Group approving an important transaction involving the sale of Mirvac Hotels & Resorts to Accor Asia Pacific (“Accor”) and the sale of Mirvac’s 49% interest in the Mirvac Wholesale Hotel Fund  (owner of six of our largest hotels) to Accor and Singapore based investor Ascendas.

This transaction is a transforming event for our company. It will create new opportunities for staff, our owners and our customers. There are also some critical elements to the transaction that I will explain below that should encourage staff to embrace the opportunity to be part of one the world’s largest hotel companies. I can imagine you have many questions and I will attempt to touch on what I think are some of the major items.

What does this mean for Mirvac Hotels associates?
Under the terms of the sale contract Accor is obliged to offer employment to all staff on their prevailing terms and conditions.

How will our business transition to Accor?
The transition of our business into Accor will be a gradual and considered process to ensure minimal disruption. This means key elements of our business such as CRS, web site, sales & marketing programs, national training, STARS Program will initially continue as per usual.

What is the timing for the completion of the transaction?
Completion is subject to a number of consents and regulatory approvals which means the sale will not be completed until the second quarter of 2012. Until completion, it will be business as usual. Post completion it is anticipated there will be interchange of staff between Accor and Mirvac Hotels & Resorts that hopefully will give everyone the opportunity to enhance their career path."

Saturday, September 24, 2011

Gold Coast Settlements Off the Plan

The Hilton and Soul (Sea Temple) apartment complexes at Surfers Paradise on the Gold Coast have many off the plan apartment sales that are to settle now.  It seems that settlements are taking a long time, and that about 25% of the people who signed contracts are unable or unwilling to settle.  See The Australian.

Sunday, September 11, 2011

Gold Coast High Rise

The headline of an article on page 21 of the Weekend Australian Financial Review this weekend is "Gold Coast high rise gets a nose bleed."

The article reports that more than $1 billion of apartments purchased at the top of the market are due to settle soon in The Oracle and Juniper's Soul developments.

Lawyers are apparently circling to try to get buyers out of contracts.  For example, it is said that Nyst Lawyers believe buyers can get out of their Soul contracts because the Soul development is now being managed by Mirvac under the Sea Temple brand.  What a crazy argument.  The buyers want to get out of the contracts because the contract price that they promised to pay is now too much.  The buyers took a risk, and lost out.  You have to be very careful when buying off the plan.

The AFR reports that prices in Soul are down about 17%, based on one resale of a 23rd floor three bedroom apartment, 161 sqm, that sold off the plan for $1.8 million and resold in February this year for $1.5 million.

Friday, September 2, 2011

Soul to be branded as Sea Temple

The Juniper Soul building on the Gold Coast will be managed by Mirvac under the Sea Temple brand. With settlements due very soon, it will be interesting to see how many actually settle. Or will we have another Oracle problem? There are already dark shadows and issues about soul food. Even the development debt is for sale.

Sunday, July 19, 2009

Port Douglas