Sheraton Resort on the Gold Coast at a glittering price tag

The 1980s Sheraton Grand Mirage Resort on the Gold Coast, built by the late fugitive developer Christopher Skase, is up for sale. Syndicate owners led by Star Entertainment Group brought it to market with a price tag of more than $200 million.

Occupying 3.45 hectares with 215 meters of beach frontage in The Spit, just north of Surfers Paradise, the hotel, once popular with models, movie stars and even royalty, opened in 1987 and was considered the jewel in what was then Skase’s growing property portfolio -Group.

Prince Charles, George Clooney and Sting have stayed at the resort that Skase built with his Quintex group at a cost of about $100 million. Skase and his socialite wife, Pixie, built the “other” Mirage resort in then-less frequented Port Douglas in far north Queensland before fleeing to Spain, where Skase died of cancer in 2001.

Star Entertainment and its consortium, which includes Far East Corporation and Hong Kong conglomerate Chow Tai Fook, bought the 295-room, five-star resort in 2017 for $140 million.

In Star Entertainment’s half-year results in February, the company announced that it would be releasing the Sheraton Grand as part of a non-core sales program. It also conducted an $800 million capital raise to pay down debt and fund high-scale development projects such as Brisbane’s Queens Wharf.

The resort will be marketed by Colliers, McVay Real Estate and JLL as the hotel sector finds new life after the hard-hit global pandemic. The resort is operated by Marriott International under the Sheraton brand.

Karen Wales, Head of Hotels and Transaction Services Australia at Colliers, said: “Any savvy investor interested in prime Australian property should consider this investment opportunity.”

Dan McVay added that ongoing renovations ensured all rooms and facilities at the hotel remained at “the highest standard”.