AUSTRALIAN ISLAND PARADISE ONCE VISITED BY A-LISTERS HITS THE MARKET
- Unique opportunity to restore ruined resort
- READ MORE: Australians can now purchase an ENTIRE island
A prospective buyer is being given the opportunity to transform a once-thriving luxury island resort which has been left untouched for a decade.
Wealthy travellers and celebrities once flocked to Double Island, off the coast of Palm Cove on the Great Barrier Reef, but the paradise is now a shell of what it once was.
Hong Kong-based billionaire Benny Wu had bought the island in 2012 for $5million on a tourism lease, but it was reclaimed by the Queensland government last year when Mr Wu breached conditions.
He had been required to operate the island as a resort but it was instead neglected and left abandoned.
Mr Wu was given three years to get the island back to its former glory but when he failed to do so the state government seized control in June, 2024.
The island, which once welcomed the likes of A-listers Jennifer Aniston, Brad Pitt and Keanu Reeves stretches just over 16 hectares but was left with abandoned boats and pathways overgrown with weeds.
The island then became a state-owned freehold land to allow the government to negotiate commercial leases.
Safety fencing and security cameras were installed to keep out vandals.
CBRE has since been appointed as the marketing agent to find a new operator and its national director Wayne Bunz said the new occupant would be chosen based on their vision for the island.
It's hoped the sale would lead to the creation of hundreds of jobs and boost the Sunshine State's tourism sector.
'The tenant will be required to remediate the island, remove the old infrastructure that's there and preserve the natural attributes of the island, along with potential capex to invest in new infrastructure and a new tourism offering,' Mr Bunz told Real Commercial.
'There's really nothing that will be salvageable from the existing facilities that were unfortunately left to ruin by the previous stakeholder.
'Any contribution to Indigenous culture, potential day trips and sightseeing activities, luxury boutique accommodation, ecotourism or even glamping will all be considered on the merit of the successful tenderer.'
The island, 30 minutes from Cairns, was developed by a group of families in the 1980s and later sold to billionaires Janet and Robert Holmes à Court before Mr Wu acquired the lease.
Anyone interested in snapping up the island needs to apply no later than May 9.
Read more 2025-04-09T07:39:17Z
