Cairns real estate: $13m Cassowary Coast cash splash by Melbourne-based retail tycoon
The Cassowary Coast has eclipsed Port Douglas as the most exclusive Far North destination with a high profile Melbourne buyer snaring two choice properties for a reported $13m.
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WHILE the $20m-plus sale of Dunk Island has failed to eventuate, the Cassowary Coast is very much in the sights of a high profile Melbourne buyer who has outlaid a reported $13 million for two properties.
Ash Hardwick, part-owner of the Cotton On retail clothing group, and his wife Samantha have reportedly paid $8m for the sensational waterfront estate Villa Be at 8 Explorers Drive in the exclusive gated community Luggers Bay.
The couple sold their home at 335 Beaconsfield Parade, St Kilda, for $8m in May last year.
The spectacular Cassowary Coast hideaway was sold by Nicholas Slatyer of Belle Property Group and was easily the top-priced property in the Far North for 2021.
Mr Slatyer said the purchaser was from Victoria.
And Mr Hardwick has reportedly paid about $5m for the 68ha Lugger Bay freehold site known as the Tam O’Shanter headland, through Stacey Quaid of Colliers Cairns.
Mr Quaid confirmed the site was under contract but said confidentiality provisions prevented him from disclosing the buyer or sale price.
The land was offered on behalf of McGrathNicol as receivers of the Mainland Property Group – a division of the collapsed Mayfair 101 group.
The Villa Be estate looks out over the headland, which has beach frontage to Lugger, Turtle and Kennedy Bays and is accessed via the Lugger Bay gated residential development.
It has existing approval to subdivide into 12 rural acreage lots, with a residual balance lot of 35.2ha and a separate common property area to include a designated conservation area.
The property is largely undeveloped but has three sheds, water tank, steel cattle yards and barbed wire paddock fencing.
Mr Hardwick is a director and shareholder of the Cotton On Group, overseeing its property function.
The Cotton On Group operates retail businesses including brands such as Cotton On, Cotton On Kids, Cotton On Body, Rubi Shoes, Typo, Factorie and Supre. Its first store opened in Geelong in 1991 and it now has 1800 plus stores across 18 countries.
Mr Hardwick has been contacted for comment.
In July last year entertainment and media wholesale private equity fund Upsense Media Capital, co-founded by Mark Spillane and RJ Bucaria, announced they would buy Dunk Island for between $20m and $25m – but the deal reportedly fell through late last year, leaving the Bond family holding the island.
The island about 4km off Mission Beach, was sold in 2020 for around $31m to interests associated with financial entrepreneur James Mawhinney.
Mr Mawhinney’s Mayfair 101 group ran into a regulatory trouble and financial advisory firm Grant Thornton was called in as provisional liquidator.
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Originally published as Cairns real estate: $13m Cassowary Coast cash splash by Melbourne-based retail tycoon
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