One of Queensland’s largest private property development companies has withdrawn from its contracted $10 million purchase of Lindeman Island.
Shaun and Samantha Juniper, founders of The Juniper Group, have retracted their plans to purchase and develop the long-abandoned island off the shore of Airlie Beach.
Chinese cable TV operator White Horse Group had agreed to sell Lindeman – once the site of a luxurious Club Med resort – to the major private property developer in November of last year.
White Horse had purchased the island which sits 40 minutes from Airlie Beach a decade ago for $12.5 million and was seeking a $20 million return -- a figure which The Juniper Group had negotiated down to $10 million.
The Chinese company wished to divest itself of the island asset due to struggles with Queensland State Government approvals, despite having completed an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) component to redeveloping the island.
That EIS was for a $583-million-dollar masterplan to redevelop the abandoned site - but those plans are now once again up in the air, and it is unknown whether a future owner would continue with the already drawn-up scheme or come in with their ideas.
The announcement of The Juniper families' plans to develop a resort on the island was welcomed with open arms in the Whitsundays, but Lindeman now returns to its state of "development limbo".
It re-joins the likes of others in the Whitsunday Archipelago like Long Island, which was recently purchased by Oscars Hotels, as well as the Meridian Australia purchased Hook Island, and South Molle Island – an island owned by China Capital Investment Group.
The proposed $10 million sale of Lindeman Island to Queensland developer The Juniper Group has fallen through as the company withdraws its offer
