LAST Friday was a busy one for the property developer Roy Medich. As well as organising $1 million to secure bail for his older brother Ron, who has been charged over the murder last year of Michael McGurk, Roy Medich was concluding a multimillion-dollar hotel deal.
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By day's end the court had agreed to grant bail to Ron Medich, once the $1 million surety was deposited and a monitoring device was fitted.
That same day Roy Medich and his son Anthony finalised their $15.5 million purchase of the famous Woolloomooloo Bay Hotel, once a sailors' hangout.
Mr Medich said he was pleased to be back in the hotel industry. ''I started as a hotel manager in the early 1970s with the El Toro [at Liverpool] and the Stardust Hotel [at Cabramatta]. Later we bought the Greenfield Tavern Hotel,'' he said.
Mr Medich was enthusiastic about his purchase of the ''iconic hotel''. However, he said it was a ''passive'' investment because the hotel is leased to the Woolworths hotel venture ALH.
The hotel was passed in at auction in April for $15.9 million. The sellers were the Melbourne hoteliers John Ashley, Mazen Tabet and Proko Athanasako. ''The market suggests there are opportunities there at the moment, and I'm looking to buy more,'' Mr Medich said.
The Medich bothers started off with hotels but made their fortune from property developments in the western suburbs. The pair made their debut on the BRW Rich List in 1995, with a net worth of $135 million.
Three years later they began construction of their flagship Norton Plaza shopping centre in Leichhardt. It cost them $23 million to build. It was sold in 2007 for $112 million.
After its sale the brothers split their business interests. Roy Medich was not involved in the disputes which his older brother later had with Michael McGurk.
Police allege Ron Medich, 62, was the mastermind behind the murder of Mr McGurk which they claim was over millions of dollars which Mr Medich believed Mr McGurk owed him.
