Palazzo Versace goes on the market!
A Dubai sheikh died there, Beyonce has slept there and now it could be yours for a cool $80 million.
Palazzo Versace – one of the world’s first fashion-branded hotels – has been put on the market.
The 12-year-old hotel boats 200 rooms, its own private marina, three restaurants and an Oscar Oscar hair salon.
It underwent a multi-million dollar makeover in the past 18 months and despite the continuing global economic woes hitting the Gold Coast real estate market hard, McVay Real Estate principal Dan McVay - who is handling the sale of the hotel - said it was a perfect time to sell.
‘‘It’s time to sell, [owner] Sunland Group has had interested buyers ever since they opened the hotel and its unusual for a developer to hold onto a property for so long,’’ he said.
‘‘Developers build properties and then they sell them, that’s what they do.
‘‘...there will be a lot of interest, you couldn’t build this kind of hotel for $80 million.’’
Mr McVay is taking expressions of interest for the next six weeks and predicted the buyer would come from Asia.
‘‘It’s a very close next-door neighbour so I’m expecting some investment interest from Asia, probably China,’’ he said.
‘‘I doubt we’ll get any interest from Europe but we might get some from America.’’
Palazzo Versace was the brainchild of Sunland Group founder Soheil Abedian, who approached the Italian fashion house in 1997 with the idea of a Versace-branded hotel.
Three years later Palazzo Versace had opened its doors on the Gold Coast and has hosted a swag of international celebrities including U2, Beyonce and Jay-Z.
In 2006 the Prime Minister and ruler of Dubai, Sheikh Maktoum bin Rashid Al Maktoum, died at the hotel after he suffered a heart attack in his room.
Mr McVay said the sale of Palazzo Versace would allow Sunland Group to focus on other projects including the development of a parcel of land in Alice Street in Brisbane.
Sunland Group last year received preliminary approval for a 47-story apartment block development called Carrington.
The $250 million residential tower will be built on the corner of Alice and Albert streets, opposite the city botanic gardens.
The futuristic style design includes a lower level architectural “skirt”, which the council’s development assessment chair Amanda Cooper described as innovative last year when the council gave the project the green light.
