Article by Phil Bartsch | 05 May 2017 | Courier Mail, Brisbane | Prime Site
“Never try selling a used car without washing it!”
That was the mantra of southeast Queensland’s former king of the car dealers John Zupp during his tyre-kicking reign.
And he’s still living by it – albeit he’s now playing the higher stakes property game after selling his lucrative string of dealerships.
His family-owned Zupp Property Group has just taken the cover off a $6 million “cut and polish” of one of the Brisbane-Gold Coast corridor’s most recognizable commercial properties.
The three cylindrical, drum-like buildings atop a hill overlooking the Pacific Motorway at 270 Lahrs Rd, Ormeau, have been a long-standing commuter curiosity.
For years, they sat partially complete – resembling an abandoned set of a James Bond movie set.
The buildings were developed by a local businesswoman, who purchased the property in 1999 and poured $11 million into the multipurpose facility for her business interests – including a naturopath school and “nutraceutical” manufacturing company. But construction was halted after she decided to relocate and sell up. Although several parties ran the rule over the property, a number of deals fell over prompting the mortgagee in possession to take the two-title 7.327ha holding to auction in 2014.
Zupp’s secured the landmark property with a winning bid of $8.325 million and immediately got to work finishing what was in the words of the group’s chief executive officer Neil Ferguson “the M1’s longest running building project”.
“It is difficult to compare the current site with what was there three years ago,” he said. “We feel special pride in transforming what was there into an A-grade establishment and giving Ormeau and the Gold Coast a fitting entry statement.”
The facility comprises 3617sp m of office space and 3913sq m of technical/production/warehouse space and Zupp’s plans to unlock the rear 55,000sq m with a second stage of development.
Zupp’s general manager of property, Todd McGuire, said the complex was now fully operational with 3087sq m of the lettable space leased up it was already home to a workforce of more than 70 people.
