Who’s Who in 2022, Business: Robert Comiskey

Robert Comiskey says the Comiskey Group’s huge expansion plans for the next two years are “very different to what we have done before”.

Mr Comiskey, brother David and father Paul, will oversee the business’ growth in this region and north to the Sunshine Coast.

The Aura Hotel (at south Caloundra), Coochin Fields festival site (close to the Aura development) and The Doonan (near Noosa) are all set to open by the end of 2024.

Alongside these northern plans, the Comiskey Group is working on a new Strathpine Hotel and Recreation Centre (development plans are with council) and a new hotel at Dakabin.

Additions to the Sandstone Point Hotel are finishing, so are improvements to the Harry Brown bottle shop at eatons Hill, where the Comiskey Distillery is being built. Samford Hotel will be upgraded in the next two years

“Almost every day of the week land offers are rejected and our proposed plan is unsuccessful … but we continue to stay vigilant, looking for the right properties and discussing ideas for what’s next,” he said in September.

Working together on such big projects and managing those facilities afterwards could put a strain on some families, but Mr Comiskey says being family makes it easier.

“I think it works because everyone’s got a different view, everyone’s coming at it from a different angle, you say what you really think because obviously you’re family you don’t have to hold back,” he says.

About Robert Comiskey:

Robert Comiskey joined the family business, started by father Paul, in 2004 along with his brother David.

Mr Comiskey had an Advanced Diploma of Architecture and began his career in construction management for Subway.

Together they have built numerous shopping and commercial centres, subdivisions, hotels and restaurants, residential dwellings and in the early years ran multiple childcare centres. The company website says Robert Comiskey “takes the reigns on all things top-level management and is the leader of the day-to-day operations at the hotels and resorts”.

In 2001, before formally joining the Comiskey Group, Mr Comiskey helped launch Finnigan’s Chins Irish pubs, the first being in Kallangur.

After selling 37 childcare centres in 2010, the Comiskey Group built and opened Eatons Hill Hotel, the largest pub in the southern hemisphere.

The same year, land at Sandstone Point, beside the Bribie Island Bridge, was bought and in 2015 became home to the Sandstone Point Hotel

Other developments include Cashmere Shopping Centre, Eatons Hill Shopping Village, Coles Buderim, BIG 4 Sandstone Point Holiday Resort and Burpengary Station Village.

A planned new development at Strathpine will have two indoor sports/recreation centres, which can be adapted for different events, restaurants, a hotel/club and drive thru.

The Aura Hotel and entertainment venue on the Sunshine Coast will be similar to the Eatons Hill and Sandstone Point Hotels and is set to open in late 2024.

Work on the Dakabin Hotel is set to start early next year, The Doonan near Noosa will open this year and a major renovation is planned of the Samford Hotel.

The wave of new announcements will see the number of employees – currently standing at 385 – also double in two years.