Thursday, August 24, 2023

Issue:

Mackay and Whitsunday Life

Lindeman Back Up For Grabs?

Lindeman Island, the once-site of a Club Med Resort, has been put back on the market after ten years’ worth of planning by its owners came to nothing.

China-based firm White Horse, who purchased Lindeman Island around 2012, have said in statement this week that it is “with regret that after 10 years of ownership, White Horse has made the decision to divest Lindeman Island”.

White Horse purchased the island which sits 40-minutes from Airlie Beach a decade ago for $12 million and are now seeking a $20 million return.

Local representative of the firm, Michael Dawn, said this was despite having successfully completed the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) component of the redevelopment.

That EIS was for a $583 million dollar masterplan to redevelop the abandoned site - but those plans are now 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 own ideas.

The marketing agency in charge of the island's sale and expression of interest campaign said the island was a “blank canvas”.

The plan includes a variety of four to six-star accommodation offerings, with 325 suites villas, suites and apartment, an eco-tourism education centre, restaurants, bars, beach club, nightclub, conference centre, arrival centre, retail shops, sport and recreation centre and a staff village.

Original concepts had believed the resort would be finished by 2022.

“White Horse hopes that the new owner continues with its vision to redevelop this once great island resort and restore it to its former glory,” the statement said.

The proposed redevelopment was originally floated almost seven years ago – with construction originally pegged to begin in 2017 - but Lindeman now joins a string of other islands in the Whitsundays Archipelago in a development limbo.

Those include islands 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.

An artist Impression of the Lagoon pool at the new look Lindeman Island, which was due to be finished by 2022 but will now potentially never see the light of day

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