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Eight registered bidders duked it out for the historically infamous Les Bubbles building in Fortitude Valley in Brisbane in a 50-bid frenzy that pushed the $800,000 starting price to its remarkable sale price of $1.6 million.
The building is on the site of the notorious Bubbles Bath-House, the illegal gambling and prostitution parlour that was at the centre of the Fitzgerald Inquiry.
It was marketed by the Ray White Commercial Gold Coast commercial sales duo of Simon Robertson and Brad Merkur.
Mr Robertson said that the historical backstory of the asset meant interest and enquiries were strong throughout the campaign.
“There was such a strong buzz around this opportunity and we had more than 50 separate enquiries leading up to the auction,” Mr Robertson said.
“You could sense in the room the registered bidders really appreciated what was on offer, and the fact the final sale price was more than double the opening bid highlights that.
“The auction came down to the final two, with more than half the 50 bids coming from those two bidders alone.”
Mr Merkur said that the winning bidder was a Queensland investor who understood how iconic the property was to Fortitude Valley.
“When you think of the Valley, you think of Les Bubbles and most people will know someone who has been there for a meal, a drink or a massage,” Mr Merkur said.
“The property sold well above its reserve and that’s a testament to its iconic status and the history attached to it.”
Illegal gambling and prostitution
In 1987, the acting Queensland premier ordered the groundbreaking Fitzgerald Inquiry that shook the country, after media reports of possible police corruption involving illegal gambling and prostitution.
Initially expected to last only six weeks, the inquiry spent nearly two years conducting a comprehensive investigation of long-term systemic political corruption and abuse of power in Queensland.
According to the Queensland Crime and Corruption Commission, the inquiry changed the policing and political landscape across Australia.
Significant prosecutions followed the Fitzgerald Inquiry, leading to four ministers being jailed and numerous convictions of other police officers, including former police commissioner Terence Murray Lewis, who was jailed and stripped of his knighthood.
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