Pizza king Don Meij puts LA pad on market for $44m
Domino’s Pizza boss Don Meij has put his Bel-Air mansion on the market hoping for a whopping profit since buying two years ago.
City Beat
Don't miss out on the headlines from City Beat. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Pizza king Don Meij has put his Los Angeles pad on the market for a whopping $US29.95m. ($44.29m). The roughly 17,000-square-foot property in Bel-Air overlooks the Stone Canyon Reservoir above Sunset Boulevard, according to listing agents David Kramer and Roya Sklar of Hilton & Hyland.
Meij purchased the Italianate villa-style property about two years ago for $US20.9m, according to public records accessed by the Wall Street Journal.
The California home boasts eight bedrooms, 15 bathrooms, an indoor pool and spa, a home theatre and climate-controlled wine cellar, among other high-end features.
The luxury property has three patio areas, including one with a pool with a hot tub. The indoor pool has an intricate stained-glass ceiling.
Kramer told the WSJ that Meij had done significant work to the property, including extensive landscaping and an upgrade to the mechanical systems.
But he declined to comment on why Meij was putting the property up for sale but noted it was priced to move quickly.
The sale comes after the Domino’s boss offloaded his Brisbane trophy home at Hamilton for around $8.5m after spending a record amount on an off-the-plan penthouse at Newstead.
Meij has been a part of an estimated $20m worth of real estate deals in the past six months.
He secured the crowning jewel of Cavcorp’s Luminare residences in Newstead this year for $12.95m. The hefty off-the-plan deal struck in February became the city’s most expensive apartment by square metre, representing $24,000 for each of the 537sqms.
Meij’s not short of a quid. He has his foot on almost 1.67m Domino’s shares worth $82m. The stock fell 5 per cent on Tuesday to $49.35, a long way off their peak of more than $160 a pop at the height of the pandemic in 2021.
The stock took a hit last month following its shock profit downgrade.
The company had unveiled dramatic strategies to resuscitate its earnings trajectory in the face of weaker consumer demand, including shutting down its only recently acquired Denmark stores as well as up to 70 underperforming pizza outlets.
Hockridge on track
Lance Hockridge is still a railway man at heart.
The former boss of freight giant Aurizon has kept his hand in the game after ‘retiring’ back in 2016 and now sits on an eclectic mix of transport company boards including Saudi Railway Co, ferry and bus operator Kelsian and traffic management firm Avada, where is chairman.
This week, Hockridge announced the high-profile appointment of former Queensland Transport Department director general Neil Scales as a non-executive director of Avada.
Scales has more than 40 years’ transport industry experience in Australia and the United Kingdom, delivering a number of major transport infrastructure projects including the Toowoomba Bypass and Gold Coast Light Rail.
Hockridge says Avada has been on the acquisition trail recently, rolling up several family-owned traffic management firms across Australia and New Zealand. It now has an extensive network of 30 depots, more than 970 vehicles and 2,000 staff.
He says further growth is expected in the lead up to the 2032 Olympics and the roll out of other major infrastructure projects. Hockridge says he’s enjoying his new role as an independent director that takes him not only around Australia but to the Middle East.
Hockridge says his seat on the board of Saudi Railway Co, the largest state-owned railway operator in the Middle East with a network of passenger and freight lines, sees him travel to the kingdom several times a year.
Rodeo boost
As the countdown kicks in to the Mount Isa Mines Rodeo Festival next month, the amount the annual event contributed to the local economy last year has just been released. Statistics from Tourism and Events Queensland found that in 2022 the event generated overnight visitor expenditure of $10 million, was responsible for more than 33,000 visitor nights with most of these nights from intrastate visitors who travelled more than 40km from their home. “These are significant numbers, with the power of rodeo undisputed as a major drawcard for Outback Queensland,” say Isa Rodeo chief executive Natalie Flecker.
Tourism Minister Stirling Hinchliffe says the rodeo is a highlight on the It’s Live in Queensland event calendar and provides a significant boost to the Outback region.
Vaccine boffins make beeline to Brisbane for big conference
Brisbane is set to become the first city in the southern hemisphere to host over 400 top immunologists, vaccine researchers, engineers, healthcare professionals, and scientists at a major conference.
Japanese trading giant Mitsui eye Queensland silica sands
The Land of the Rising Sun is eyeing Queensland’s silica sands, with Brisbane-based Diatreme Resources inking an agreement with blue-chip Japanese trading house Mitsui & Co.