Final days for Skase’s former boatyard

A boatyard once owned by disgraced businessman Christopher Skase has been demolished to make way for a new luxury apartment complex.

The Byron St premises at Bulimba, which was bought from Skase’s liquidators by the Wright family in 1989, was operational up until recently.

Many of Brisbane’s iconic City Cats and Queensland water police boats were built at the site by Norman R Wright and Sons, a family that has been in the boat building business for almost 110 years.

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Grandson Bill Wright says the site has “been good to us”.

“Christopher Skase owned it but when he went belly up, we bought it from the liquidators at auction,” he says.

An artist’s impression of The Boatyard Bulimba.

The family-owned company has built everything from racing yachts to pilot boats, and Wright says business is as busy as ever.

They have a new site nearby, and are currently building a new vessel for the Queensland Police Service and a 61ft game boat for a Melbourne client.

I guess that’s why we named it (the new development) The Boatyard. It is a compliment to my grandfather who started it all

The demolition of the Byron St site will now make way for The Boatyard Bulimba, a luxury apartment complex being developed by HG Developments.

But there will still be a family connection to the site, with developer Alistair Harvey a descendant of Norman R Wright.

“As children, our grandfather (Norman R Wright) always referred to it as ‘The Boatyard’,” Harvey says.

“I suppose my fondest childhood memory was running around in the saw dust in between beautiful timber boats.

The site is being turned into The Boatyard Bulimba development.

“I guess that’s why we named it (the new development) The Boatyard. It is a compliment to my grandfather who started it all.”

The boutique development was initially expected to house 27 apartments across four buildings but one buyer snapped up two top-floor apartments to create one large penthouse for just over $4 million.

Place Advisory director Lachlan Walker says the development is the “first step” towards rejuvenating the north-facing precinct, which has been an industrial area.

“River frontage is a limited commodity … we have already sold 16 apartments in pre-sales,” he says.

He said the majority of buyers had been locals looking to downsize, with several from interstate.

Construction is now underway, with settlement expected by December next year.

This article from The Courier Mail was originally published as “Iconic boatyard demolished to make way for luxury Bulimba development”.