Page 36 - My Memoirs - Max Kurz

1969-1974 - Destined for Unimaginable Change
Our favourite holiday destination transformed into a commercial venture. I became adept in property development and on one of our holidays met up with Lyle Johnson and his wife and children staying at the Country Club Hotel in Port Stephens. We became friends and exchanged ideas on property developments in Shoal Bay Port Stephens. Lyle ran a successful newsagency in Canberra and was eager to consider investment into a joint venture property development. I identified an opportunity on the waterfront of Shoal Bay, a corner site which after investigation with the local council was a site suited for either one building of 24 units or 2 buildings of 9 units total 18 units. It was a very expensive site unprecedented by price comparison for the area. The real estate agents were trying to encourage me to buy a cheaper site back from the waterfront, I was not interested, I only wanted the waterfront which at that time put the venture into the high-risk category.
It was my first venture into a development with my own capital, after completing the feasibility studies, the joint venture was formed between myself, Lyle, and the Gold brothers as builders, I as project manager. This would be the first medium density home unit development for the area. It took a long time to gain council approval. I decided it would be prudent to build one block at a time the first was named Shoal Court comprising of 9 x 2-bedroom units located on the corner of Lilian Street and Shoal Bay Road. It was a success, so we commenced with the second block named Shoal Towers which also sold well, my career as a property developer in the Port Stephens area was launched. I went on to build 2 more home unit developments under a joint venture scheme with different partners all of which sold successfully.
The most challenging development was what became known as the Bay Village complex. 20 units and 14 shops over 3 levels with underground car parking on the waterfront at Shoal Bay near the Country Club Hotel owned by the Randall Family. The challenge here was the acquisition and consolidation of the land and formation of the joint venture group. The complex comprised of 3 individually owned sites. One site was owned by an elderly retired fisherman over many years, it was the middle site the other two either side were owned one, by the Randall Family and another by a third party from Newcastle who owned butcher and retail cake shops in Newcastle.
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