AFTER shelving plans to redevelop the prominent site three years ago, the Queensland government is offering a Gold Coast property to the public again.

The property is known as the Gold Coast Marine Development site, and is between tourist meccas Seaworld, and the Palazzo Versace Hotel.

It has been earmarked to become a tourist attraction, however attempts to tender the site was met with lukewarm reaction in 2007, and formally shelved in June 2010.

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CHALLENGER Diversified Property Group has paid $81 million for an A-grade office at 31 Queen Street in the Melbourne CBD.

The purchase price equates to a yield of 8.17 per cent. FKP sold the 27-level, 19460 square metre office.

A copy of Challenger's statement about the transaction is copied below.

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THAKRAL Holdings has pulled two major assets from the market after they failed to generate buyer interest.

The assets - the Sofitel Gold Coast and Oasis Shopping Centre - were expected to fetch about $200 million. Funds would have cut gearing and reinstated distribution.

Managing director John Hudson is reported in the AFR as saying the company was considering other ways to cut its debt levels, now.

THE palatial Perth mansion of businessman Ric Stowe is expected to be auctioned in May.

Bullsbrook (right), on Perth's outskirts, is expected to sell for some $70 million.

The estate includes a frass field cut into a hillside, a polo clubhouse and two helipads. It has reportedly been host to royalty.

Bullsbrook was one of several assets recently seized by receivers.

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QUEENSLAND based Devine Limited has purchased a 107-unit apartment complex in the fringe Brisbane suburb of Teneriffe, and a 22 hectare standard residential development site in Melton, in Melbourne's outer west.

Marketing for both projects is expected to start this year, according to Devine managing director David Keir who released the company's financials last week.

"Over the last 12 months we've secured around 5000 allotments of apartments," Mr Keir said, adding the developer "will continue to acquire new opportunities as they arise. We are looking at both regional centres, such as Gladstone in Queensland, and capital cities."

Devine reported a $9.5 million profit for the year, up from $1.2 million it achieved for the second half of 2009.

FOR Melbourne’s newest millionaire farmer, the west has proven lucky in more ways than one, with Perth-based development giant Golden Group revealed as the buyer to pay $36 million for the Tarneit farm once known as Shanahans House, and later, Wyndham Park.

The 64 hectare estate, some 28 kilometres of town at 1070 Sayers Road, was one of the first major farms publicly listed for sale after the former state government significantly expanded Melbourne’s Urban Growth Boundary by some 46,000 hectares last June.

That expansion, which built on a 23,000 hectare expansion a year earlier, allowed for new homes to be developed on what was previously Green Wedge land, parkland and rural zoned properties.

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THE Mansions hotel, in Sydney's inner-city Kings Cross, has sold to developer Toga Group for $16.75 million.

The property, which currently trades as a pub, is expected to be converted into an apartment complex. Toga purchased the site on terms subject to this redevelopment being approved. The Mansions soars five levels. It was one of the last controlled by the Landmark Leisure Group which went into receivership in 2009.

Other sites owned by LLG included the Vegas Hotel, which like The Mansions is also in Kings Cross. Other assets include Darlingsford's Oxford Hotel and the peakhurst Inn.

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RECEIVERS are about to seize control of a sixth site controlled by embattled property developer Luke Saraceni (right).

The seizure, for a hotel site at 18 The Esplanade, in Perth, comes as Saraceni prepares to test in court whether his $500 million Raine Square office tower project can be completed.

Financiers have also seized control of an office tower at 251 St Georges Terrace, in Perth, owned by Saraceni's business partner, developer Hossean Pourzand. The Bank of Scotland and Bankwest called in the receivers, according to reports.

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THE suburb that recently topped a survey assessing Melbourne gentrification levels is continuing to evolve.

Northcote, five kilometres from town, has had a major rezoning approved which will see prominent factories that only a generation ago helped define the suburb, bulldozed and replaced with cafes, shops and apartments.

The rezoning will see the precinct’s residential and retail precinct spill over from High Street into Arthurton Road – and in particular a busy thoroughfare full of factories which connects the strip to the Northcote train station.

Northcote and Maribyrnong, in the north-west, have experienced the most rapid gentrification in Melbourne since 2001, according to a study conducted by the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute at Swinburne and Monash universities.

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LaSalle Investment has paid a speculated $200 million for the Novotel hotel on Collins Street, and neighbouring Australia on Collins Shopping Centre.

Thakral Holdings offloaded the assets, after late last month withdrawing two other assets, in Queensland, from sale. Those assets were also expected to reap the company about $200 million.

For LaSalle, the transaction follows it buying into a Sydney residential project, with Leighton Properties, last month.