Island fever in Whitsunday archipelago
The new listing of Lindeman Island follows recent string of Whitsunday Island sales
The one-time home of Club Med, Lindeman Island has been listed for sale, providing investors an opportunity to create a new resort in the World Heritage-listed Great Barrier Reef.
The listing follows a string of island sales, which have returned five major islands back into the hands of Australian investors over the past 12 months.
On offer is a perpetual leasehold and four long-term leases over 136-hectares of land, comprising the closed beachfront resort, golf course and air strip. The island also features 637 hectares of national park area with seven private beaches
Lindeman Island is located within the Whitsunday archipelago, approximately 15 kilometres from Hamilton Island and accessible by boat, either via a 20-minute trip from Hamilton Island Airport or a 40-minute trip from Airlie Beach.
Small charter aircraft and helicopters are can also land on the island’s airstrip.
CBRE Hotels’ National Director, Wayne Bunz and Associate Director, Hayley Manvell have been exclusively appointed to market the asset, one of 24 Queensland islands offering resort approvals.
Mr Bunz said the Whitsunday Region has been one of the most resilient markets through the pandemic and was recently recognised as the world’s second most loved tourist destination in 2022 by the Tourism Sentiment Index.
This, he said, highlighted the region’s robust tourist market.
“Lindeman Island provides investors with the opportunity to redevelop the asset in line with other nearby successful luxury resorts, such as qualia Hamilton Island, to capitalise on strong domestic tourism demand and a resurgence in the international inbound market,” he said.
Ms Manvell said the asset is essentially a blank canvas for an incoming investor, allowing them to follow the masterplan developed by the existing owner China-based White Horse Group or undertake a smaller scale luxury redevelopment.
That masterplan incorporates a variety of four to six-star accommodation offerings, with 325 suites villas, suites and apartments, an ecotourism education centre, restaurants, bars, beach club, night club, conference centre, arrival centre, retail shops, sport and recreation centre and a staff village.
White Horse’s local representative, Michael Dawn said, it was with regret that after ten years of ownership, White Horse has made the decision to divest Lindeman Island.
This, he said, was despite having successfully completed the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) component of the redevelopment.
“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,” he said.
The recent string of Whitsunday Islands sales includes Dunk Island to Annie Cannon-Brookes, wife of Atlassian co-founder Mike Cannon-Brookes; Lizard Island to Tattarang; Long Island to Oscars Hotels; Hook Island to Meridian Australia, and Elysian Retreat Long Island to Shayne Smyth, founder of Perle Ventures and travel insurance group, Cover-More.
Mike Parker-Brown is a UK-trained and qualified journalist and an award-winning travel communicator with more than 30 years experience.
Since 2002, Mike has worked as a freelance writer and PR consultant providing his services to major organisations in Australia and internationally in the tourism, aviation, hospitality, recruitment and export marketing sectors.
